WASHINGTON, 10 December 2021, (TON): The US House of Representatives on Wednesday passed legislation restricting imports from China's Xinjiang region over its treatment of the Uighur Muslim minority, as tensions continue to escalate between Washington and Beijing.

Members of the House voted 428-1 to pass the “Uighur Forced Labour Prevention Act” which requires corporations to prove “with clear and convincing evidence” that any goods imported from the region were not made using forced labour.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi told lawmakers ahead of the vote “right now, Beijing is orchestrating a brutal and accelerating campaign of repression against the Uighur people and other Muslim minorities.”

“In Xinjiang, across China, millions are enduring outrageous human rights abuses: from mass surveillance and disciplinary policing; to mass torture including solitary confinement and forced sterilisations; intimidation of journalists and activists who have dared to expose the truth.”

She added “and, the government of China's exploitation of forced labour reaches across the oceans to our shores and across the world.”

The US Senate has previously approved a similar measure and the two will now need reconciling.

The bill will then need to be signed into law by President Joe Biden and it was unclear whether it had White House support.