U.S. urged to revoke illegal sanctions imposed on three additional Chinese firms under the guise of human rights

China on Wednesday urged the U.S. to immediately stop smearing China, revoke the illegal unilateral sanctions against Chinese companies, stop interfering in China's internal affairs under the guise of human rights and harming China's interests and development, after the U.S. added additional three Chinese companies to a list that bars imports from firms allegedly associated with the so-called forced labor in China's Xinjiang region.

The U.S. has once again concocted false narratives about Xinjiang and imposed illegal sanctions on Chinese companies under the pretext of human rights, which China firmly opposes and strongly condemns, Lin Jian, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, told a regular press conference on Wednesday.

Lin said the development of Xinjiang is there for all to see. The central government's governance policy in Xinjiang is deeply supported by local people. We have repeatedly cited a large number of figures and facts to show that the so-called forced labor and genocide are completely groundless and are century-old lies fabricated by a very small number of anti-China forces, with the aim of causing chaos in Xinjiang, smearing China, and hindering China's development, Lin said.

The U.S., based on lies, unilaterally implemented evil laws related to Xinjiang, included Chinese companies in relevant sanction lists, seriously interfered in China's internal affairs, disrupted the normal order of the market, and violated international trade rules and basic norms of international relations, Lin said. In essence, it is an attempt by the U.S. to create "forced unemployment" in Xinjiang, infringing on the rights to survival, employment, and development of local people of Xinjiang in the name of human rights, revealing its sinister intention of "containing China with Xinjiang," the spokesperson said.

The U.S. is facing a mountain of domestic problems. If the U.S. truly cares about human rights issues, it should take measures to effectively address its domestic issues such as racial discrimination, gun violence, and drug abuse, rather than treating internal diseases externally and interfering in other countries and imposing sanctions arbitrarily.

"China will continue to take resolute measures to firmly defend the legitimate and lawful rights and interests of Chinese companies," Lin said.

According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday, the U.S. has announced the addition of three Chinese seafood, aluminum, and footwear companies to a list that bars imports from firms allegedly associated with the so-called forced labor in Xinjiang.

Using "forced labor" as an excuse, the essence of U.S.' move is to conduct a sweeping crackdown on all industries in the Xinjiang region, analysts said.

When asked to comment on the latest U.S. move, Chinese embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu called allegations of "forced labor" in Xinjiang "nothing but an egregious lie propagated by anti-China forces and a tool for U.S. politicians to destabilize Xinjiang and contain China's development," Reuters reported.

Referring to the so-called Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), Liu added: "It not only severely infringes on the human rights of people in Xinjiang but also destabilizes global industrial and supply chains and sabotages international trade rules."

Li Haidong, a professor at the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Wednesday that the U.S.' move aims to politicize and slander normal foreign trade activities of Chinese companies, damaging China's strong momentum in economic and trade development, and also tarnishing China's peaceful image in international trade and prosperity promotion. 

The U.S. also aims to eliminate American trade competitors and "defeat" China in geopolitical competition, Li said. Noting that the U.S.' allegations of the so-called genocide and forced labor are completely baseless and absurd, the expert said that this demonstrates U.S.' ideological bias and deep-seated hostility toward China, with the fundamental purpose of undermining and suppressing China's development.

Including the three entities added on Tuesday, the U.S. has added 68 entities to the UFLPA Entity List since the UFLPA was signed into law in December 2021, according to a statement of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The continuous expansion of the U.S. suppression of Chinese companies is aimed at disrupting and restructuring the global industrial chain, attempting to eliminate or marginalize China from it, and making all core elements of globalization controlled by the U.S., Li said, noting that this extremely selfish move is despicable.

This kind of behavior, which selfishly destroys international economic and trade rules and seriously disrupts international industrial supply chain, is a manifestation of U.S. bullying and hegemony, analysts said. Chinese companies need to be prepared to deal with this, as U.S.' mindset to have malicious competition toward China is not going to be easily changed, they said.