The Chinese communist regime continues to exploit the Chinese people in forced labor, qualifying it for the world’s worst offenders of human trafficking, according to a U.S. State Department report released on Sept. 29.
In an annual assessment of global efforts to combat modern-day slavery, the State Department kept communist China at the lowest category, Tier 3—a designation that could lead to U.S. sanctions.
The Chinese regime “does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so,” the report’s China chapter stated.
The report cited the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “policy or pattern” of “widespread forced labor” at state-affiliated sectors, including mass detention of Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minority groups in the far western region of Xinjiang.
The report also called out the CCP’s increasing use of transnational repression to “coerce the repatriation and internment” of religious and ethnic minorities outside its borders. Tactics employed include surveillance, harassment, and threats against individuals and their family members. Such practices, the report said, exacerbate their vulnerability to the regime’s widespread forced labor practices.
Since 2020, the State Department has been declaring governments with “policies or patterns” of human trafficking, forced labor in state-affiliated sectors, sexual slavery in state-run camps, or the recruitment of child soldiers under a congressional mandate.
China has appeared on this list every year. The 2025 report marked the sixth consecutive year the State Department has labeled the Chinese regime as a human trafficker.
Other countries whose governments were identified in the latest report as endorsing human trafficking were Afghanistan, Belarus, Burma, Cambodia, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Russia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Syria.
An estimated 3.9 million people are subjected to state-imposed forced labor exploitation in China and several other countries, the report said, citing assessments by the International Labor Organization.
In a written introduction to the latest edition of Trafficking in Persons Report, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the study aimed to push countries to take “serious action” to curb forced labor and sex trafficking and ensure that “those who fail to act face consequences.”
“Human trafficking is a horrific and devastating crime that also enriches transnational criminal organizations and immoral, anti-American regimes,” Rubio said.
“The Trump Administration is dedicated to upholding American values, protecting American workers, and defending our communities.”
Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, applauded the report for calling out nations failing to stop human trafficking.
“State-sponsored forced labor in China, Cuba, and elsewhere, coupled with the explosion of Southeast Asian scam centers, is devastating lives and families around the world—including here in the United States, where traffickers scammed Americans out of over $12.5 billion in 2024 alone,” Smith said in a statement.
“Trafficking remains a hidden crime. We must redouble our efforts, ensure coordinated and survivor-informed care, and never let traffickers operate with impunity.”
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