Chinese, overseas scholars condemn U.S. signing of "Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act"

Aerial photo taken on April 13, 2021 shows a film mulching sower at work in a cotton field in Tungqeka Village of Xingping Township, Yuli County, Bayingolin Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Ding Lei)

BEIJING, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- The United States' signing of the so-called "Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act" into law was nothing but a political farce, said a law professor from China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region at a press conference Thursday in Beijing.

The conference was held by the Xinjiang regional government, with Chinese and foreign scholars participating both online and offline.

"As a law teacher working in Xinjiang for over four decades, I have gained an in-depth understanding of the labor situation in Xinjiang and clearly know that the so-called 'forced labor' fallacy in Xinjiang is groundless," said Chen Tong, a professor with the law school of Xinjiang Normal University.

Xinjiang has always respected the will of workers in formulating employment policies, expanding employment channels, and providing employment services for the people in the region, said Chen.

The region has fulfilled its obligations under international conventions and actively practiced international labor and human rights standards, ensuring to the maximum extent that people of all ethnic groups enjoy the right to work, the professor added.

De Quanying, another law professor at Xinjiang University of Finance and Economics, said that the United States' act is totally hegemonic and the greatest violation of human rights.

Xie Guiping, a professor with Zhejiang University, said that the atrocious act fully unmasks the United States' intent of luring the international community into suppressing China's development, mounting a full-blown attack against certain industries of China, creating mass unemployment in Xinjiang and undermining the region's security, stability and ethnic unity.

Hiroshi Onishi, a professor from Japan's Keio University, made a presentation speech via video link during the conference, refuting the so-called "forced labor" claims with facts based on his field research in Xinjiang.

"I have conducted research on Xinjiang 11 times and have many Uygur students," said the Japanese professor, adding that people in Xinjiang told him that many people are happy to have the chance to work in the more developed coastal regions, which is by no means compulsory for them, and there is no such thing as "forced labor transfer."