WASHINGTON: The United States will block imports of cotton it says are harvested with "slave labour" in China's Xinjiang region, authorities have announced. Beijing has come under intense international criticism over its policies in the resource-rich territory, where rights groups say as many as one million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim minorities are being held in internment camps.

The new rule allows Customs and Border Protection officials to detain shipments containing cotton originating from the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, a major paramilitary group already sanctioned by the US Treasury.

"The human rights abuses taking place at the hands of the Chinese Communist government will not be tolerated by President Trump and the American people," said senior Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official Ken Cuccinelli on Wednesday.

"DHS is taking the lead to enforce our laws to make sure human rights abusers, including US businesses, are not allowed to manipulate our system in order to profit from slave labour," he added. Beijing responded by accusing the United States of fabricating "fake news of so-called forced labour" and attempting to "oppress Xinjiang businesses."