URUMQI: Polysilicon manufacturers based in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region said that the United States’ recent sanctions against them due to accusations of “forced labor” are just an excuse to clamp down on the region’s photovoltaic industry after it gained competitiveness in the global market.
“The US government has chosen to ignore the facts that Xinjiang people can choose their jobs freely. Instead, it imposed all kinds of restrictive measures to clamp down on Xinjiang businesses in the name of ‘forced labor’. Now it uses lies as scripts and administrative measures as tools to target Xinjiang’s photovoltaic industry,” Dong Li, vice-president of the Xinjiang Nonferrous Metal Industry Association, said while responding to the latest US sanctions on behalf of affected polysilicon producers.
The White House announced on June 24 that the Biden administration had put five business entities based in Xinjiang that make polysilicon a raw material for photovoltaic products on the commerce department’s “entity list”, which requires US companies to get an export license when dealing with them.
The actions demonstrated the US’ commitment to imposing additional costs on China for engaging in “cruel and inhumane forced labor practices”, the White House said in a statement.
Dong told a news conference in Beijing that the US action would severely damage the international business order and threaten the security of the global supply chain. “The move will eventually harm the interests of the photovoltaic industry worldwide,” he said.
China is expected to produce 567,000 metric tons of polysilicon this year, about 85 percent of global production. Some 57 percent of China’s polysilicon will be made in Xinjiang this year, according to the association.
Its production isn’t labor-intensive, with the complex production process highly automated.
– The Daily Mail-China Daily News exchange item
