Biden signs law banning imports from Xinjiang

Bill requires companies to prove production of goods did not involve forced labour

US President Joe Biden signs a bill limiting trade with Xinjiang, China, into law on Thursday. AP

US President Joe Biden signed into law on Thursday a bill that bans almost all imports from the Chinese region of Xinjiang in response to concerns over the reported use of forced labour.

The bill, which was approved by Congress last week, also requires the US president to impose sanctions on officials allegedly responsible for human rights offences in Xinjiang, a move made by the previous administration.

Some US businesses had voiced unease about the Act, which bans the import of all goods from the region unless companies offer verifiable proof that production did not involve forced labour.

An estimated 20 per cent of garments imported into the US each year include some cotton from Xinjiang.

Rights experts, witnesses and the US government have said that more than one million Uighurs and other Turkic-speaking Muslims have been incarcerated in camps to assimilate them into China's Han majority.

Members of the East Turkistan National Awakening Movement protest near the State Department this week against China's treatment of Uighurs. AP

The US has already hit some Chinese officials and businesses with sanctions and announced a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics in protest of conditions in Xinjiang, with other countries following suit.

Beijing describes the sites as vocational training centres and says it is seeking to reduce the allure of radical Islam after deadly attacks.