Ministry issues rebuke to US measure targeting Xinjiang enterprises

China firmly opposes the United States incorporating two Chinese enterprises and their subsidiaries into the entity list of the so-called "Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act" on the unfounded grounds of human rights violations, the Ministry of Commerce said on Monday.

Such behavior is groundless and non-transparent, unilateral bullying in the name of "human rights" and a typical act of economic coercion, the ministry said in a statement.

There is no such thing as "forced labor" or "persecution of ethnic minorities" in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, the ministry said, adding the US should immediately stop political maneuvering, abandon its irrational suppression of Chinese enterprises and cease sabotaging Xinjiang's prosperity and stability.

China will take necessary measures to resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights of Chinese enterprises and protect the country's sovereignty, security and development interests, the ministry said.