WASHINGTON — The Coalition for a Prosperous America (CPA) today applauded Senators Chris Coons (D-DE), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Ed Markey (D-MA), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Tim Kaine (D-VA), and Mitt Romney (R-UT) for introducing a resolution condemning the Chinese government and Communist Party’s genocide against the Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). The resolution also calls for an investigation into abuses and crimes committed in the XUAR.
CPA believes it is essential to label China’s actions as “genocide,” particularly for Uyghurs transferred to forced labor camps. We have called on the U.S. government to ban all products made in whole or in part with forced labor.
“The Chinese government’s ongoing, egregious human rights abuses include killing, rape, slave labor, torture, forced sterilization and forced organ harvesting. Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities are the victims of genocide,” CPA Chair Zach Mottl said. “We thank Senators Coons, Rubio, Markey, Hagerty, Kaine, and Romney for their efforts to hold China accountable. However, lawmakers must build on these efforts with further sanctions, including banning the importation of forced labor products from China, not just the Xinjiang province.”
Last year, CPA applauded House passage of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (H.R. 6210), which would designate most goods produced in China’s XUAR as being manufactured through forced labor. Doing so would preclude such products from being sold in the United States.
“CPA and our members strongly support the resolution led by Senators Chris Coons and Marco Rubio to highlight the Chinese Communist Party’s ongoing genocide against Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities,” Michael Stumo, CEO of the CPA, said. “Congress should also take up and swiftly pass the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act in order to ensure U.S. consumers are not unwittingly funding Chinese companies that use forced labor in Xinjiang. As the Biden administration and Congress pursue policies to reshore supply chains and rebuild U.S. industrial capacity, it is vital that these policies include a ban on all Chinese products, not just XUAR products, made with slave and other forced labor.”
Read the full text of the resolution here.
Media Contact:
Nick Iacovella, Communications Director
nick@prosperousamerica.org
(202) 688-5145 ext. 0
