WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th January, 2021) The US government banned all imports of cotton and tomato products from China's Xinjiang province, a region where reports claim more than 1 million Muslims reportedly languish in Chinese camps, Customs and Border Protection said in a press release.
"Effective January 13 at all US ports of entry, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will detain cotton products and tomato products produced in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region," the release said on Wednesday.
The CBP said it issued a region-wide Withhold Release Order (WRO) on products made by what it calls is slave labor in Xinjiang. The products include apparel, textiles, tomato seeds, canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, and other goods made with cotton and tomatoes.
Wednesday's action marked the fourth WRO issued against China since October 1, 2020.
The Chinese government continues to execute a campaign of repression targeting the mainly Muslim Uyghur people and other ethnic and religious minority groups in Xinjiang, the release said.
Up to 1 million residents of the province have been jailed in so-called re-education camps, according to US officials, the release added.
