China's new cotton law deepens control over

A new regulation took effect in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region on July 1, 2026. The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Regulations on Promoting Cotton Quality creates a legal framework for supervising the entire cotton production chain, from farmer to final sale, according to a report from Global Voices.

The law mandates extensive traceability. It covers planting, harvesting, purchasing, processing, sales, and storage. Producers and businesses must maintain records identifying the grower, the land plot, the cotton variety, and the quantity and date of purchase and processing. These records must be kept for at least five years. Every bale must carry a barcode with information on its type, grade, quantity, and processing history.

Authorities gain extensive supervisory power under the regulation. Cotton businesses are subject to inspections and credit evaluations. Their evaluation results can affect policy support and access to finance. An "exit mechanism" is also possible.

The "separation of three rights" land system

This 2026 regulation builds on an earlier restructuring of rural land. In 2018, the regional government issued an implementation opinion on the "separation of three rights" system for rural land. This system separates collective ownership, household contracting rights, and management rights.

Land remains collectively owned, and households formally retain contracting rights. However, management rights can be transferred to cooperatives, companies, and other state-approved "new-type agricultural business entities." The 2018 policy described the low land transfer rate in southern Uyghur areas - then below 15 percent of arable land - as a problem. It called for land-share cooperatives, trusteeship arrangements, and managed cultivation.

The policy instructed authorities to examine whether incoming operators fit local development and poverty-alleviation plans and could absorb local labor. The same policy calls for Communist Party organizations to be established inside the agricultural entities that receive and manage transferred land.

Cotton, land transfer, and political control

Official reporting explicitly connects cotton, land transfer, and political control. A 2018 report from the state-run China Science Daily detailed a cotton project in Company 4 of Regiment 51, Third Division of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps. The report stated over 95 percent of residents there were from Uyghur and other Indigenous communities.

The project was coordinated with the "Visit the People, Benefit the People, and Gather the Hearts" program, known as Fanghuiju. It linked research institutes, technology companies, cooperatives, and farmers. According to the report, land transferred into the project was paid at 650 Chinese yuan per mu. Farmers were told they could obtain additional income by working on the same land after transferring it.

The project brought standardized seeds, mechanization, and data services under the direction of research institutes and companies. Officials said mechanized management could raise the area managed by one person from 30-50 mu to 100-200 mu.

Land transfer under a stability campaign

The political environment for these land transfers is crucial. A 2019 directive from the regional Grain and Material Reserves Bureau ordered Fanghuiju village work teams to regard "maintaining social stability" as their core task. It instructed them to conduct regular household visits, implement stability measures, expand rural labor transfers, and intensify land transfer as a targeted poverty-alleviation measure.

The same directive instructed cadres to guide residents to "feel gratitude to the Party, listen to the Party, and follow the Party." It also called for stronger village-level Party organizations. This document directly connects land transfer with political instruction, household-level presence, labor mobilization, and stability control.

These documents establish that farmers were asked to make "voluntary" decisions inside a system that linked land, employment, poverty policy, surveillance, political education, and social stability. Under such conditions, official claims of voluntariness are not credible, the source argues.

Traceability without accountability

China's cotton industry has rapidly expanded mechanization. A 2025 report from the state-run Xinhua claimed the region's cotton system had reached a 97 percent comprehensive mechanization rate. Mechanization reduces the need for labor while land-transfer policies channel management rights to cooperatives and companies.

Fanghuiju teams simultaneously promote labor transfer, political conformity, and village-level control. As pointed out by a UN report released in January 2026, human rights experts criticized China's "poverty alleviation through labor transfer" program. They said it coerced Uyghurs, Tibetans, and other Indigenous peoples into jobs.

The new cotton-quality regulation completes this structure by making the supply chain traceable and governable through data. For Uyghur farmers, this is significant. A 2020 Xinhua report stated around 7 million people in the region were engaged in cotton production. About 70 percent were Uyghurs and other Indigenous peoples, according to the government's figures. Cotton was a main source of income, particularly in Uyghur-majority southern areas.

The new regulation makes this livelihood more visible and controllable. It allows the state and participating enterprises to follow cotton from a specific farmer and field through every subsequent stage. The coercive land and labor transfer system that underpins the automated cotton industry may cause irreparable harm to Uyghurs and other Indigenous peoples, as UN human rights experts warned.