WASHINGTON, December 2, Reuters - The U.S. House of Representatives is set to consider a bill that would ban imports from China's Xinjiang region over concerns about forced labor, Rep. Jim McGovern, the bill's sponsor, told reporters on Thursday.
McGovern said that the next week will be an important week for human rights. We think it is important to move some China legislation, because we think it's important to have a focus on human rights. We want to see that get over the finish line in some way, as a result of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. President Joe Biden is going to host a summit of democracies next week, seen as an effort to push back against China's growing influence.
The Republicans and Democrats have been arguing over the Uyghur legislation for months. The Senate's consideration of the massive annual legislation setting policy for the Pentagon has been delayed recently by Republican Senator Marco Rubio, who has been demanding that the measure be included in the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA.
Rubio's office did not respond immediately to a request for comment on whether House passage of McGovern's bill would change his position on the defense bill.
If the Uyghur measure becomes law, it would create a false presumption that all goods from Xinjiang, where the Chinese government has set up a vast network of detention camps for Uyghurs and other Muslim groups, would be made with forced labor.
China denies any abuses in Xinjiang, which supplies much of the world's materials for solar panels, but the U.S. government and many rights groups say Beijing is carrying out genocide there.
Republicans accused Biden's Democrats of slow-walking the legislation because it would complicate the president's renewable energy agenda. In a telephone interview, Democratic Representative Dan Kildee said that domestic production of solar panels could be ramped up, because they wanted to see a stronger approach when it comes to forced labor in Xinjiang.