China is among worst trafficking nations in US list

Washington, June 27: President Donald Trump’s administration hit China on Tuesday over its rights record, listing the country alongside Sudan and North Korea on a list of the world’s worst human trafficking offenders.

The state department downgraded China in its annual “Trafficking in Persons Report,” saying Beijing is doing little to combat trafficking or protect victims.

It pointed to ethnic Uighurs, a Muslim minority in China’s west, being coerced into forced labour, and to Beijing’s wholesale repatriation of North Koreans without checking to see if they were trafficking victims.

Beijing “does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so,” the report said.

It marked the first significant rebuke of China’s rights record by the Trump administration, which has avoided harsh criticism of Beijing as the President seeks to establish a working relationship over trade differences.

◗ The US listed China alongside Sudan and North Korea as the world’s worst human trafficking offenders

◗ The report said Beijing is doing little to combat trafficking or protect victims

◗ It marked the first significant rebuke of China’s rights record by Donald Trump