US Releases a Third of Electronics Detained under PRC Forced Labor Act

Facts

• The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) revealed on Tuesday that it has released over one-third of electronic devices, including solar panels, it had detained since 2022 under the Uyghur Forced Labor Protection Act (UFLPA)¹
• The agency released 552 electronic shipments valued at $345M out of a total of over 1.6K industry shipments worth $841M that was halted for examination. The majority of the shipments reviewed originated from Malaysia and Vietnam with a small fraction coming from Thailand and China.¹
• More than 2.3K shipments have been blocked using the Act, the CPB reported in February of this year. The CPB does not expect to release much data regarding alleged violations of the Act and it is prohibited from identifying companies that are the intended recipients of goods that have been detained under the law.²
• The law establishes a rebuttable presumption that imports “mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part” in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region are prohibited entry into the US. They can only enter the US if the CBP determines, through “clear and convincing evidence”, that the items were either not produced using forced labor or that the law does not apply to the shipments.³
• In August 2022, it was reported that the supply of goods from Xinjiang to the US increased to its highest levels in 10 months despite the passage of the Act. Though the data only showed what was exported from the province, experts said, rather than what was imported into the US.⁴
• The UFLPA, which passed in 2021, took effect in mid-2022 as the US ramped up efforts to block goods from Xinjiang citing allegations from the US State Department and other Western governments that Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in the region have been subject to a raft of human rights abuses since 2017 — including forced labor, torture, and unlawful killings.⁵

Sources: ¹Reuters, ²Wall Street Journal, ³U.s. customs and border protection, ⁴South china morning post and ⁵CNN.

Narratives

• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Human rights watch. The US should be vigorously enforcing the UFLPA to prevent imports linked to forced labor by Uyghurs and other persecuted groups in China. Since 2017, PRC authorities have committed crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in the northwest Xinjiang region. The US government should also enforce existing laws to impose financial penalties on companies for importing or attempting to import goods linked to forced labor in China. US Customs must send a message to businesses, China, and th
• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by CounterPunch. The primary motivation behind US sanctions against China and PRC-made products is fear of its inability to sufficiently keep up with the Asian powerhouse’s rapid scientific and technological advancements. The US obsession with Xinjiang has less to do with human rights and more to do with the fact that a third of the world’s textiles and clothing come from China, and the northwestern province is responsible for 87% of the country’s total cotton output. Ultimately, human rights abuses, real or imagined, are b