Adding entities to Xinjiang sanctions list a priority -U.S. DHS official By Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – One of the highest priorities for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security this year will be to add new entities to a sanctions list for involvement in forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region, a senior DHS official said on Friday.

“We’re really strongly committed. to building that (list) out and expanding it to include any other entities that we identify that are engaged in these abhorrent practices,” Robert Silvers, DHS undersecretary for strategy, policy, and plans, told an event at the Hudson (NYSE:) Institute in Washington.

Rights groups accuse Beijing of abuses against Uyghurs, a mainly Muslim ethnic minority of around 10 million people in the western region of Xinjiang, including the mass use of forced labor in internment camps. The United States has accused China of genocide. Beijing denies any abuses and rejects the U.S. allegations.