US hijacks world trade with lies: China Daily editorial

The "Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act" that comes into effect on Tuesday shows how far the United States is ready to go to fulfill its own agenda by politicizing human rights issues.

The act prevents companies from trading with partners from the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region or dealing with any products or raw materials from the region, citing "forced labor" as the reason.

This aims to stifle the economy of Xinjiang, but it is being done not only at the cost of the livelihoods of people in the region, but also at the costs of the stability of agriculture, textile, energy and many other industries of the world, given Xinjiang's position in the global supply chains.

That indicates how unscrupulous the handful of China-bashing politicians in the US have become. They are willing to hijack world trade and the global economy.

Behind the act is a complete industry chain that fabricates, spreads, hypes up and speculates on "genocide" and "forced labor" in Xinjiang. It is a chain of fiction-makers that includes think tanks, foundations, rights groups, paid performers and media outlets. And not just those in the US. This is a lucrative worldwide business.

But although they might take pride in that seamless cooperation model, their schemes are like drawing water with a sieve and will be to no avail.

The impacts of the act on Xinjiang will be quite limited as the Chinese market is large enough to consume the agricultural products, industrial raw materials and energy resources the region produces, particularly when staple commodity prices are high.

Like the punitive tariffs on Chinese imports, it is US companies and consumers that will bear the brunt of the blows. Weaning US companies from products and raw materials from Xinjiang will raise their cost burden and further boost inflation in the US.

If they really cared about the human rights conditions in Xinjiang, they would not have turned a blind eye to the remarkable development achievements of the region over the past decades. Nor would they have pressured the UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet to "investigate" China and then decried her visit to China last month as a "mistake" when she said her visit boosted exchanges and paved the way for future cooperation.

Those Uygurs upholding banners calling for holding China accountable for "genocide" and "forced labor" in their protests in Washington and appearing in various US-funded research studies as eyewitnesses in Xinjiang are the ones who appear on the payrolls of various US agencies, whether directly or indirectly. They are separatists, extremists, terrorists that are closely connected with or are members of the so-called East Turkestan Islamic Movement, a terrorist organization that is recognized as such by the United Nations and almost all countries, except the US.

That shows how low the US is ready to stoop to contain China.