File Photo of a rare-earth mine in Southwest China's Yunnan Province Photo: VCG

The US on Thursday banned imports from five more Chinese companies over alleged "forced labor" claims targeting Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Experts noted that the fundamental purpose of this move is to curb the development of Chinese enterprises under the guise of human rights, but it will eventually damage the interests of the US enterprises and customers.

The US government added five Chinese firms to the so-called Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) Entity List, according to Reuters.

In response, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington said on Thursday in the Reuters report that so-called forced labor in Xinjiang is nothing but an egregious lie propagated by anti-China forces and a tool for US politicians to destabilize Xinjiang and contain China's development. "China will continue to firmly safeguard the legitimate and lawful rights and interests of Chinese companies."

The US allegations are groundless talking. The use of the "human rights" card to curb the development of Chinese enterprises is yet another US stunt, Wang Peng, an associate research fellow at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Friday.

Wang said the US targeted China's magnesium and non-ferrous metal industries this time, further extending its suppression of China in various fields.

The UFLPA list now includes over 70 entities tied to products including cotton apparel, automotive parts, vinyl flooring and solar panels.

"The US has been using forced labor as an excuse to curb China's development, which is an irresponsible act that may damage the interests of American enterprises and customers as well as disrupt the global market order," Wang said.

All countries should uphold the concepts of openness, cooperation and win-win situation and work together to maintain the global trade order and supply chain stability, Wang noted.

It is worth noting that the US always seems to ignore its own stains while pointing fingers at other countries using "human rights" and "democracy" as excuses.

In July, the US Department of the Interior released the second volume of the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report. The report disclosed that nearly 1,000 Indigenous children died while attending boarding schools operated or supported by the US government where many Indigenous children suffered from physical abuse, and were forced to change beliefs and punished for using their native languages. All these left intergenerational trauma on the Indigenous communities.