U.S. House panel seeks stronger measures against China on Uyghur, Taiwan issues

WASHINGTON – The U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on China has called on Congress to block online selling of clothing made by Uyghur slaves living in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region in northwest China.

In a report released Wednesday, the panel also urged Congress to pass legislation that would fund documentation of China’s genocide of Uyghurs.

It also seeks to require the executive branch to undertake diplomatic efforts to help those fleeing the Xinjiang region and seeking refuge.

The report was prepared following a hearing on the Uyghur genocide held on March 23 by the bipartisan special committee established earlier this year.

The Law on the Prevention of Uyghur Forced Labor, passed in 2021, prohibits the import of goods produced by forced labor.

Officials say more than $1 billion worth of supplies have already been prevented from entering the United States.

However, $800 worth of goods are exempt from customs inspection.

Online retailers use the loophole to sell items to customers piecemeal.

The value of goods entering the U.S. market under this exemption has increased from less than $10 billion in 2020 to nearly $40 billion in 2021.

The House panel, led by Mike Gallagher, a Wisconsin Republican, has now called on Congress to close this loophole.

“Exploiting the de minimis (exemption) threshold may be a major avenue through which PRC companies, such as online retail platforms that sell direct to consumers like Shein and Temu, circumvent the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act,” the report said, using an acronym for China’s government.

The U.S. Customs and Border Patrol “could not reasonably scrutinize goods sent to the U.S. from the PRC under the current de minimis rule for concerns about forced labor,” it said.

The report also calls on Congress to provide more funding to the Department of Homeland Security to more consistently enforce the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act.

It also calls for a comprehensive list of all companies involved in forced labor.

The House Select Committee on China was established after Republicans regained control of the House of Representatives in last year’s midterm elections.

Raja Krishnamoorthi, an Illinois Democrat who is vice chairman of the committee, said Congress should continue to take action against the Chinese Communist Party to “end genocide”

-Recommendations on Taiwan 

The report was released along with 10 recommendations to Congress on U.S. Taiwan policy.

The report calls for the U.S. and Taiwan to train together to operate in an “integrated manner”

It calls on the U.S. government to deliver weapons to Taipei that have already been promised but not yet delivered. The report notes that “supplying Taiwan in the event of a crisis would be difficult”

The report calls on the U.S. to produce “additional long-range missiles and unmanned vehicles in the Indo-Pacific region” but warned that “the U.S. defense manufacturing base should not posture to quickly produce the needed numbers.”