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(Alliance News) - China on Tuesday criticized new curbs imposed by the US on imports of goods produced in the Xinjiang region, where Beijing is accused of suppressing ethnic minorities.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson rejected US accusations that production in its western Xinjiang region involved forced labour by Uighurs and other ethnic minorities.

The US announced Monday it would stop importing goods including cotton, computer parts and hair products made in Xinjiang, as frictions between the two countries escalate.

"The so-called forced labour problem is completely fabricated by some US and Western institutions and personnel," said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin.

Wang said ethnic minority workers' freedom of movement "has never been restricted" and that their language, customs and religion were protected by law.

Over the past three years, hundreds of Uighurs, Kazakhs and Huis have testified about being held in internment camps as part of what observers say is a government campaign to assimilate ethnic minorities.

The Chinese government says the camps - estimated to have held around 1 million people - are "vocational education centres" meant to eradicate extremism and terrorism.

In December, authorities said all Xinjiang "students" have "graduated" and found gainful employment.

But rights groups accuse Beijing of funnelling camp survivors into factories across the country.

A study by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute in March linked multinationals including Nike, Adidas AG, Apple Inc and Microsoft Corp to forced Uighur labour.

The report estimated more than 80,000 Uighurs were transferred to work in factories across the country between 2017 and 2019.

source: dpa

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