BEIJING: Lawmakers in the United States are fabricating news of forcedlabour in the northwestern Xinjiang region, China said on Thursday.

The development comes after Washington banned imports of cotton produced bythe Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC) alleged to use theforced labour of detained Uighur Muslims

Speaking at a daily media briefing, foreign ministry spokesperson HuaChunying said the US practices undermined market principles and woulddeprive people of jobs.

An estimated one million mostly Muslim ethnic minorities have allegedlybeen held in internment camps in Xinjiang. After initially denying theirexistence, Beijing cast the facilities as “vocational education centres”where “students” learn Mandarin and job skills in an effort to steer themaway from religious extremism, terrorism and separatism.

Officially, the Chinese government says it is transferring “surplus”Xinjiang labour to other regions in the name of poverty alleviation.

According to official news agency Xinhua, more than 25,000 workers fromXinjiang were slated to be transferred “inland” in 2019 China´s foreignministry and the Xinjiang government did not immediately respond torequests for comment on the report.