Apple Inc has reportedly cut business ties with camera modules supplier China’s OFilm Group Co Ltd after the US company failed to water down a bill aiming to stop forced Uyghur labor.
Trump government included Ofilm in its entity list which implicated the company with human rights violations and abuses against ethnic Uyghurs along with 10 other Chinese companies back in July, 2020.
Apple was reported to lobby to modify the bill in November which holds the U.S. companies accountable for using Uyghur forced labor.
Several other US giants like Nike and Coca Cola have also reported to lobby against The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act
The bill require U.S. companies to guarantee they do not use imprisoned or coerced workers from the predominantly Muslim region of East Turkestan known as Xinjiang in Chinese , where Chinese government has reportedly placed more than 1 million people into internment camps.
Ofilm has confirmed the development without specifically naming Apple telling investors it received a notification from a “particular overseas client” saying it would cut its business ties. According to OFilm, the customer contributed 22.51% of its operating income in 2019.
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute said in a report last year that Ofilm used at least 700 Uyghur laborers from Xinjiang at a factory in the southern province of Jiangxi.
