CHINA WATCHVietnam Overtakes China as Largest Exporter of Goods Made with Uyghur Forced Labor
Vietnam was the top exporter to the United States of products covered by the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act in 2023, the first time a country has outranked China since the law passed in 2021. The Department of Homeland Security’s Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force includes 30 items, from clothing to solar-grade polysilicon, in its product watch list, according to the Federal Register in December 2023.
Vietnam was the top exporter to the United States of products covered by the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act in 2023, the first time a country has outranked China since the law passed in 2021, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
The act bans the import of products made with Uyghur forced labor. It is a U.S. response to human rights abuses by Beijing of Uyghur and other Muslim minority groups in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China.
Customs and Border Protection enforcement statistics released Jan. 26 show that Vietnam last year exported the greatest value of products that were denied entry to the U.S. since the law has been enforced, followed by Malaysia.
According to the data, in 2023 Vietnam accounted for the highest shipment value for the apparel, footwear and textiles sector at $19.14 million, with $10.22 million denied, followed by China at $17.70 million, of which $1.29 million were denied.
The Vietnam Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to a request for comment on the report. China denies U.S. charges that include mass detentions of Uyghurs in re-education camps and the use of forced labor in manufacturing and agriculture sectors.
“This report presents the very intriguing development that goods made with forced labor in Xinjiang are increasingly being diverted to Vietnam for re-shipment to the US,” Phil Robertson, deputy director of the Asia division of Human Rights Watch, told VOA Vietnamese by email.
While U.S. business and political leaders talk about de-risking supply chains by moving them out of China, “it’s clearly not that simple,” Robertson said in the email. “These diversions are simply unacceptable, and the US needs to use its newly upgraded bilateral relationship with Vietnam to press leaders in Hanoi to halt these tainted goods from being shipped out of their ports to the US. The integrity of UFLPA enforcement depends on taking urgent action now against their transshipments.”
The U.S. and Vietnam upgraded their relations in September to a “comprehensive strategic partnership.”
The Department of Homeland Security’s Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force includes 30 items, from clothing to solar-grade polysilicon, in its product watch list, according to the Federal Register in December 2023.
Rushan Abbas, founder and executive director of the Campaign for Uyghurs in Herndon, Virginia, told VOA Vietnamese via email that China has increased exports from East Turkistan to neighboring countries and used this tactic to obfuscate the real origins of
