The U.S. government has imposed export restrictions on five Chinese companies because the five Chinese entities violated human rights. The restricted companies include large manufacturers of polysilicon used in the solar panel industry.
The U.S. government added the five companies to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s list of export-controlled entities on Wednesday (June 23). The five companies are Hoshine Silicon Industry Co (Hoshine Silicon Industry Co), Daqo New Energy Corp (Daqo New Energy Corp) of Xinjiang Daqo New Energy Co (Xinjiang Daqo New Energy Co), Shanghai Dongfang Hope Group ( Xinjiang East Hope Nonferrous Metals Co, a subsidiary of East Hope Group, Xinjiang GCL New Energy Material Co, and Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.
At least several of the five companies are major manufacturers of monocrystalline and polysilicon used in the production of solar panels.
The Commerce Department said Wednesday that the five companies were added to the list of export-controlled entities because they violate the human rights of Uighurs and other Muslim minorities. The companies are receiving or using forced labor.
U.S. officials have said the Biden administration is considering imposing restrictions on Chinese solar manufacturers in Xinjiang, where most of the polysilicon used in the world’s solar panels is subcontracted for production.
President Biden’s climate envoy, John Kerry, told the U.S. House of Representatives last May on the issue of solar products in Xinjiang, “My understanding is that the Biden administration is considering whether it will target them for sanctions.”
Foreign governments and human rights activists say the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, which unites the four systems of party, government, military and enterprises, is a force on the ground to suppress and monitor Uighurs, managing some detentions.
In late July last year, the Trump administration’s U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions against the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps and two of its officials last year for “serious violations of the human rights of ethnic minorities.”
In March, the Biden administration’s Treasury Department announced sanctions against two senior Xinjiang officials, including Wang Junzheng, a deputy secretary of the Communist Party Committee of Xinjiang who serves as political commissar of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, and who has also been sanctioned by the European Union and the United Kingdom.
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