US State Department's 2026 Trafficking in Persons Report keeps China in Tier 3 over forced labor and trafficking concerns

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The US State Department released its annual Trafficking in Persons Report on October 8, 2026. In the China section, the report keeps China in Tier 3, the lowest ranking, finding that the Chinese government 'did not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so'. The report lists a range of widespread forced-labor allegations: forced labor in government-affiliated sectors, particularly in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, where Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, ethnic Kyrgyz and members of other minority groups continued to face arbitrary detention under the stated objectives of 'vocational training' and 'deradicalisation'; authorities also continued to place ethnic Tibetans, Uyghurs and other minority groups in vocational training and manufacturing jobs through purported poverty alleviation and labor dispatch programs that featured coercive elements. The assessment further alleged that forced labor practices extended to other Chinese provinces, and that authorities sought to coerce the repatriation and internment of ethnic and religious minorities living abroad, increasing their vulnerability to exploitation. The report also accused Chinese officials of knowingly permitting North Korean citizens to be subjected to forced labor in China, and raised concerns over inadequate oversight of recruitment channels, contracts and working conditions for Chinese nationals employed on Belt and Road Initiative projects and other China-linked infrastructure projects overseas. On law enforcement, the report said China had failed to provide complete trafficking-related data for the ninth consecutive year and had not reported identifying any trafficking victims or referring them to protection services during the reporting period. [1]

Why it matters

This report is worth recording for three reasons. First, it is the US government's annual official assessment, and Tier 3 is the lowest rating: the China section presents a systemic picture — from Xinjiang to other provinces, from poverty-alleviation labor dispatch to Belt and Road projects abroad, from domestic detention to coerced return from overseas — not a single incident but a whole assessed system of 'forced labor' population-control and labor arrangements. Second, the report explicitly writes 'transnational repression' into a trafficking assessment: authorities coercing minorities abroad to return and face internment, increasing their vulnerability to exploitation — an allegation that resonates with this site's records of the Wanying Zhang case (surveillance of Taiwan's president's son in the US at Chinese officials' direction) and the WUC's warnings on Uyghurs in Central Asia, extending 'transnational repression' from a political-repression frame into a trafficking-and-labor-exploitation frame. Third, the data anomaly itself is worth recording: nine consecutive years without complete data and zero victims identified in the reporting period — in the assessment's logic, this is not evidence of 'no problem' but a transparency deficit counted against the rating. A conservative note: this record documents the US government's assessment; China has consistently rejected such allegations; as of publication this site has seen no Chinese government response to this year's China section — hence the 'under ongoing verification' grading. [1][2]

Full report

The 2026 Trafficking in Persons Report was released on October 8. Congressman Chris Smith, author of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, welcomed the release the same day and issued a statement singling out China: 'The Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) use and enabling of forced labor — including the systematic exploitation of Uyghurs and other persecuted minorities — is deeply troubling and deserves the greatest level of scrutiny.' Smith also pointed to the 'horrific, ongoing consequences' of China's one-child policy: the report notes that a gross disparity — tens of millions more boys than girls — has driven the demand for commercial sex trafficking and coercive marriages. [2]

The report's China assessment focuses on three areas. First, Xinjiang: Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, ethnic Kyrgyz and members of other minority groups continued to face arbitrary detention under the stated objectives of 'vocational training' and 'deradicalisation'; authorities also continued to place ethnic Tibetans, Uyghurs and other minority groups in vocational training and manufacturing jobs through purported poverty alleviation and labor dispatch programs that featured coercive elements. The report uses 'alleged' in describing the forced-labor findings. [1]

Second, the cross-provincial and cross-border dimension: forced labor practices extended to other Chinese provinces; authorities sought to coerce the repatriation and internment of ethnic and religious minorities living abroad, increasing their vulnerability to exploitation; the report also accused Chinese officials of knowingly permitting North Korean citizens to be subjected to forced labor in China; and it flagged inadequate oversight of recruitment channels, contracts and working conditions for Chinese nationals employed on Belt and Road Initiative projects and other China-linked infrastructure projects overseas. [1]

Third, enforcement and data: the report said China had failed to provide complete trafficking-related data for the ninth consecutive year and had not reported identifying any trafficking victims or referring them to protection services during the reporting period. This is the ninth consecutive year China has been singled out over missing data. [1]

Verification note: this record documents the US government's official assessment and a US congressman's public statement, widely reported by ANI/IANS wires on October 17. China has consistently rejected such US allegations, describing Xinjiang policies as counter-terrorism, deradicalisation and vocational-education measures; as of publication this site has seen no Chinese government response to this year's China section. This site will continue to follow any Chinese response and next year's assessment. [1][2]

Primary sources

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