Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi

New Delhi, Oct 13: The popular collectible Labubu dolls have become the focus of a wider debate in the United States over Chinese supply chains, alleged forced labour and the effectiveness of import enforcement, as US lawmakers intensify pressure on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), a report has said.

The debate was triggered after tests reportedly suggested that some Labubu dolls contained cotton traced to China's Xinjiang region, according to a report by Maldives-based ETruth MV.

The scrutiny of the rabbit-eared dolls comes amid mounting congressional pressure on DHS to explain how effectively the United States is preventing goods linked to forced labour from entering the country.

"The pressure comes weeks after DHS made its largest single expansion of the Uyghur Forced Labour Prevention Act (UFLPA) Entity List, adding 43 companies and bringing the list to 187 entities," the report noted.

The US ban on imports linked to forced labour has also raised broader questions about the ability of authorities to trace products through increasingly complex international supply chains.

Eight US lawmakers have sought details from DHS on goods stopped by the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) at the border and the criteria used to consider additional companies for inclusion on the UFLPA Entity List. They have also sought information on goods whose components originate in China but are processed or assembled in third countries.

The scrutiny also covers the use of artificial intelligence by DHS to assess country-of-origin information and supply-chain documentation, as well as cooperation between the United States and its international partners to tackle the transshipment of goods through third countries.

"The issue is particularly significant for Xinjiang because the UFLPA applies not only to finished products directly exported from the region but also to merchandise containing material covered by the statute," the report noted.

Meanwhile, New York-based labour rights group China Labor Watch said earlier this year that it had uncovered evidence of worker exploitation at a factory operated by Chinese toy company Pop Mart, including allegations that employees were forced to sign blank cheques and work overtime.

The factory supplies Labubu dolls, part of Pop Mart's popular "The Monsters" toy line.

Investigators who spent three months at the Shunjia Toys factory in Xinfeng county, in south-eastern China's Jiangxi province, found that workers routinely signed blank labour contracts, the report said.

It also cited alleged employment of 16- and 17-year-olds without the special protections for young workers required under Chinese law, inadequate health and safety training, and other labour rights violations.