Senate passes Uyghur anti-slave labor bill, confirms Beijing ambassador

The Senate passed a bill on Thursday evening that bars the import of any goods from China’s Xinjiang region and confirmed President Joe Biden’s nominee for ambassador to China.

The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which passed in the Senate by unanimous consent, passed the House on Tuesday, and now will now be sent to Biden’s desk for his signature.

The bipartisan legislation requires that any goods, commodities or materials from China’s Xinjiang region cannot be imported unless the companies can prove that no forced labor was used in its production. Multiple reports and eyewitness accounts have highlighted the detention, abuse and re-education of Uyghur Muslims, who have been forced into working in Chinese factories.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), a leading co-sponsor of the bill, said it was intended to bring all companies in line with those who had already taken steps to ensure their supply chain is free of forced labor.

“For those who have not done that, they’ll no longer be able to continue to make Americans — every one of us, frankly — unwitting accomplices in the atrocities, in the genocide that’s being committed by the Chinese Communist Party,” Rubio said in a statement.

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), another co-sponsor, celebrated its passage as “a resounding and unequivocal message against genocide and slave labor wherever these evils appear.”

In addition, the Senate confirmed three Biden nominees, including Nicholas Burns for ambassador to China, Ramin Toloui for assistant secretary for Economics and Business Affairs, and Rashad Hussain for ambassador-at-large for International Religious Freedom.

The confirmations are notable due to an ongoing blockade of Biden nominees, largely stemming from the administration’s decision to lift sanctions on Russia’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline earlier this year.