Shen Longquan | Visual China Group | Getty Images Chinese companies producing raw materials for electric vehicle batteries are showing signs of using forced labor, according to a New York Times article. The newspaper reported that the Xinjiang Nonferrous Metal Industry mining group employs hundreds of Uighurs, a national minority in China, as part of a so-called job transfer program. The Times reported that China has admitted to implementing such a program that moves Uighurs and other ethnic minorities from southern Xinjiang to the north to work in industrial jobs. The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The US State Department has previously noted, citing an independent researcher, that migrant workers are at risk of forced labor. He has also cited Chinese academic publications in the past as “describing the transfer of labor as a critical means of fragmenting Uighur society and mitigating the” negative “impact of religion”. In a social media post translated by the Times, Xinjiang Nonferrous said that workers from predominantly Muslim minorities had given lectures on “eliminating religious extremism” and turning them into workers who “embraced their Chinese nationality.” Chinese authorities have repeatedly denied that the country is imprisoning or enslaving Uighurs. On Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said the allegations of forced labor in Xinjiang were a “huge lie made by anti-Chinese forces to discredit China.” He said that the rights of workers of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang are properly protected. The Xinjiang Non-Ferrous Metal Industry produces minerals and metals, including lithium, nickel and copper. It has exported metals to the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, Japan and India, the Times reported. However, it is not clear whether these relationships are ongoing, the New York Times reported. The report was released on the eve of the entry into force of the law on the prevention of forced labor of Uighurs in the United States. Legislation prohibits forced labor products in Xinjiang from entering the US market. The Times reported that thousands of companies could have links to Xinjiang in their supply chains. If fully implemented, many products, including some needed for electric vehicles, may stop at the border. Read the full report in the New York Times.
