Thousands of imports enter Australia from firms blacklisted by US over alleged Uyghur forced labour links
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Imports of a range of products, including parts for Sydney Metro vehicles, increase despite US bans on dozens of companies. Australia is allowing thousands of imports from Chinese companies blacklisted by the US over alleged links to forced Uyghur labour, including a supplier of parts to Sydney Metro vehicles, government documents have revealed.
![[]Australian Uyghur Tangritagh Women’s Association president Ramila Chanisheff in Adelaide, December 2024.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/c4eb77a625c3d1b853050944151c516cab4ebf86/0_390_8256_4954/master/8256.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
In 2021 the Biden administration passed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, and from the following year began outlawing imports from dozens of companies, seizing shipments at the border and releasing a public blacklist of the companies, mostly operating in Xinjiang.
![[Mamutjan Abdurehim and family]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/27a8e50db8f1057cf4c56cb64aa4ec1f58653a5c/110_0_1250_750/master/1250.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
But far from following its ally’s lead, the Australian government has continued to wave through thousands of imports from US-blacklisted companies. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email. Using freedom of information laws, the Guardian obtained details of 3,347 import declarations that name eight US-blacklisted companies as suppliers of materials to Australian importers since 2020. The companies ship a range of products, including parts for car batteries and trains used by state governments; safety gear for tradespeople; spices and food additives; and laser printers.
![[Alleged detention facility in Artux, in China’s northwestern Xinjiang region.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/f42dfd8b2109f64364fc9e121c2e767aff8ab0d4/0_335_6352_3812/master/6352.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
The documents show Australia’s imports from the eight companies actually increased after the US introduced its ban, peaking in 2023. Separate records obtained from the fisheries department show Australian seafood importers are receiving hundreds of shipments from Chinese-based processors publicly linked to the use of Uyghur labour during an exhaustive investigation by the Outlaw Ocean Project, a not-for-profit investigative reporting group based in Washington DC.
