China denies United Kingdom forced labor allegations

Raab also said the United Nations needed access to China's Xinjiang region to verify allegations of forced labor and other human rights violations.

UK Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs Dominic Raab on Tuesday stated that his country has a "moral duty" to address the situation with the ill treatment of Uyghurs in China, which, according to him, includes forced labour and mass torture in internment camps in the Xinjiang autonomous region.

In December, Congress passed the bipartisan Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which assumes that all goods manufactured in Xinjiang are made with forced labor and therefore banned, unless CBP certifies otherwise.

A Chinese court last month handed down a four-year jail term to a citizen-journalist who reported from Wuhan, the epicentre of the virus before it spread across the globe, while others who did the same have disappeared. -China tensions after he takes office on January 20.

In his announcement, Raab said Britain sought to ensure that "no company that profits from forced labour in Xinjiang can do business in the United Kingdom, and that no United Kingdom business is involved in their supply chains".

Both will have a big impact on cotton production in Xinjiang, which produces as much as 20% of the world's supply of the commodity.Cotton futures prices fell slightly on Wednesday, but traders attributed the drop to profit-taking after prices hit a two year high on a USA production outlook cut.

The US State Department estimates that up to two million Uyghurs, as well as members of other Muslim minority groups, have been detained in a sprawling network of internment camps in Xinjiang.

The Chinese embassy in Washington said in a statement the forced labor issue was a "political lie" and vowed to take actions to safeguard the rights of its companies.

Beijing has denied accusations of mistreatment, and says it's providing vocational training and helping to deradicalize segments of the population to combat alleged Islamic terrorism and violence.

Raab said British firms will be required to check their supply chains and report the results.