China's foreign ministry said on Tuesday that US import bans on some products from China's Xinjiang region were sabotaging global supply chains.

Earlier, the Trump administration on Monday blocked US imports of cotton, apparel and other products from five entities in western China's Xinjiang region. 

"The Chinese government is engaged in systematic abuses against the Uighur people" and other minorities, said Mark Morgan, acting commissioner of the Customs and Border Protection agency.

The actions announced consisted of "withhold release orders" or WROs, which empower the CBP to seize products from the blacklisted companies and organizations.

The US government is increasingly using such orders to pressure Beijing over its detention of more than one million members of the mostly Muslim Uighur minority in Xinjiang for ostensible reeducation.

In July, the customs agency placed WRO blocks on hair products, used for wigs and extensions, from several companies operating in Xinjiang, and in August did the same for garments made and sold by the Hero Vast Group.

"The Chinese government needs to close its concentration camps," said Cuccinelli.

The move came as rights groups and members of US Congress press the administration of President Donald Trump to take more resolute action over alleged Chinese repression of Muslims in the country's vast west.

In July the US Treasury imposed sanctions on a major paramilitary group, Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, accusing it of abuses against Uighurs and other mostly Muslim groups.

Source: Reuters