Analysts take US to task on Xinjiang disinformation

The United States has been spreading disinformation about Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, including claiming that forced labor has been used, in an attempt to target and tarnish China's international image, analysts said.

Chandra Muzaffar, president of Malaysian human rights advocacy organization International Movement for a Just World, said the veracity of the claim that forced labor has been used in Xinjiang has not been established by any independent body.

"The way in which this claim has been trotted out gives the impression that it is yet another attempt to target and tarnish China's international image," he said, citing the US' "Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act". Under the act, which was passed at the end of 2021 and took effect in June, the US Customs and Border Protection will block all imports made wholly or partly in Xinjiang, citing "forced labor" as the reason.