China on Friday said that the U.S. has “no scruples” after it passed a bill against the Xinjiang region and applied new sanctions to the area for human rights abuses.
The Senate passed the bipartisan Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act on Thursday that says companies must prove imports from Xinjiang weren’t made with slave labor, targeting the human rights abuses against Uyghur Muslims in the area.
The Biden administration also applied sanctions to 34 Chinese companies that were found to be supporting or in connection to the Chinese military and the country’s human rights abuses.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said the actions show “that the U.S. has no scruples about smearing China by every means,” The Associated Press reported.
“The relevant actions seriously undermine the principles of market economy and international economic and trade rules, and seriously damage the interests of Chinese institutions and enterprises,” Wang said.
“China strongly deplores and rejects that and urges the U.S. to immediately correct its mistake. China will take all necessary measures to resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese institutions and enterprises,” Wang added.
China has denied any human rights abuses in the region, saying the camps Uyghur Muslims were going to were reeducation and deradicalization camps.
Tensions have continued to grow between China and the U.S. as the U.S. has labeled China’s actions against Uyghur Muslims a genocide.
As a result, the U.S. also announced a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, with several other countries announcing they would do the same.