EU to ban forced-labour products in tougher China stance

The EU is looking to impose an import ban on products made from forced labour, the bloc’s chief said on Wednesday, in a move seen aimed at China over its treatment of its Uyghur population.

The announcement was one of several made by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in her annual State of the European Union speech that signalled a more assertive stance towards Beijing.

More explicitly, von der Leyen called on Chinese President Xi Jinping to show “leadership” by setting out in detail how his country – the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases – plans to meet its climate change goals ahead of a UN COP26 summit in early November.

She also outlined EU plans to set up trade and infrastructure links in other parts of the world – including the Indo-Pacific region where China dominates – to rival Beijing’s “Belt and Road” initiative.

The stance underlined a hardening Western approach to China, which has become an economic powerhouse that competes with the US and EU while eschewing their democratic and social values. Yet Brussels is also keen to portray its moves as independent and less hardline than those from Washington, with which Beijing has more tense...