Global EditionASIA 中文双语Français
World
Home / World / China-US

Washington urged to end import ban on Xinjiang

By MO JINGXI | CHINA DAILY | Updated: 2021-01-15 07:19
Share
Share - WeChat
Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian speaks at a news conference in Beijing, on Nov 20, 2020. [Photo/fmprc.gov.cn]

China urged the United States on Thursday to immediately withdraw its wrong decision to put an import ban on all cotton and tomato products from the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and stop interfering in China's internal affairs under the pretext of Xinjiang-related issues.

"We firmly oppose it. China will take all necessary measures to uphold our sovereignty, security and development interests," Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a regular news briefing in Beijing.

US Customs and Border Protection announced on Wednesday that the ban was imposed over allegations that the products are made with forced labor.

Zhao said so-called forced labor is "the lie of the century", fabricated by certain institutions and people in Western countries including the US.

"The US side created this lie and took actions upon this lie," the spokesman said, adding that the purpose is to crack down on Chinese people and companies and to contain China's development.

That behavior has violated market economy principles, harmed global industrial and supply chains and damaged the interests of companies and consumers of all countries, including US ones, Zhao said.

"No one will benefit or gain from such action," he added.

A woman works in a cotton field in Awat County, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, October 25, 2019. [Photo: Xinhua]

The spokesman also said that the US should feel embarrassed about its own forced labor issues as repeatedly reported by the media.

He cited a report from the Los Angeles Times saying that women working overtime in prison factories churned out masks by the thousands but were forbidden to wear them.

Gao Feng, a spokesman of the Ministry of Commerce, said on Thursday that China is strongly against the US' and some other countries' gross interference in China's internal affairs based on fake information and fabricated lies.

Cotton and tomato products from Xinjiang play an important role in global industrial supply chains, and restrictive measures undermine global supply chain security and impede global economic recovery, Gao said, urging the countries involved to immediately end restrictions.

Most Viewed in 24 Hours
Top
BACK TO THE TOP
English
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US