ADB faces scrutiny over contracts with Chinese firm linked to Uyghur forced labor
Australia to push Asian Development Bank for early review of antislavery safeguards after reports link its projects to companies operating in China’s Xinjiang region
SYDNEY, Australia (MNTV) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is facing growing pressure to strengthen its human rights oversight after awarding nearly $250 million in contracts to a Chinese conglomerate accused of involvement in Beijing’s forced-labor programs targeting Uyghur Muslims.
According to an investigation by The Daily Telegraph, the ADB has approved five major contracts since early 2025 for the Chinese energy and engineering group TBEA, including a $90 million deal for an infrastructure project in Papua New Guinea.
The company was previously cited in a 2021 Sheffield Hallam University report for participating in state-run “poverty-alleviation” and “labor-transfer” schemes in Xinjiang — policies widely identified by researchers as mechanisms of coercive assimilation and forced labor.
The report also found that TBEA maintained a formal cooperation agreement with the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), a powerful paramilitary conglomerate sanctioned by the United States for its role in the repression of Uyghurs.
Some members of the U.S. Congress later called on the Biden administration to consider sanctions against TBEA itself.
The Daily Telegraph’s report claims that the ADB has partnered with the Xinjiang regional government on dozens of China-based contracts in recent years, with the local authorities listed as “executing agencies” responsible for administering project funds and procurement.
Bethany Allen, head of China Investigations at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said the pattern of contracts risked conferring legitimacy on Beijing’s policies in Xinjiang. “By engaging companies and institutions directly implicated in the persecution of Uyghurs, the ADB lends international credibility to a system built on coercion,” she said.
Australia — one of the ADB’s largest shareholders and contributors, having provided about $1.4 billion over the past decade — has said it will urge the bank to fast-track a review of its antislavery framework.
The Australian government said the goal is to ensure that all contractors, including TBEA, comply with the bank’s strengthened environmental and social safeguards, which prohibit forced or exploitative labor.
“Modern slavery practices are abhorrent crimes,” an Australian government spokesperson said, vowing to prevent taxpayer funds from supporting supply chains linked to human-rights abuses.
The ADB said it performs “rigorous due diligence” on all companies engaged in its projects and that it currently has “no works underway in Xinjiang and no projects under preparation.” Its updated safeguard framework, finalized in December 2024, is scheduled to take effect in January 2026.
Human-rights experts say the controversy highlights a broader challenge for multilateral lenders — balancing development goals in emerging markets with growing demands for accountability in global supply chains.
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