A worker at a PV wafer plant in Southwest China's Yunnan Province on December 21,2021 Photo: Yin Yeping/Global Times

Chinese photovoltaic (PV) industry players said that the US is putting its PV sector in danger by bullying the Chinese PV industry based on the Western country's groundless accusations of so-called forced labor in Xinjiang.

While there has been an increasing squeeze on Chinese PV industry by ill-intended means, Chinese PV module exports are still booming, and they're expected to hit a new record this year.

Foreign media outlets reported that the US Senate voted last week to approve legislation that would ban the import of a wide array of products made in China's Xinjiang region.

Several industry insiders said they are upset about the US move, and some warned that the companies may pull out of the US market and go elsewhere if the US government continues its irresponsible attack.

An insider with a large PV company in China said there had been no impact on China's international business, despite the US' aggressive approach, which intensified this year.

"The US' allegation over using so-called 'forced labor' in Xinjiang is hyped and unacceptable, and we never forced them to buy our products," the insider told the Global Times on Thursday on condition of anonymity.

"There is no choice for the US to give up our products, since our production costs are approximately three times lower than that of the US," the source said.

While US customers are still buying the company's PV products, many purchased products from the downstream factories in Southeast Asia, which are owned by Chinese companies. 

The US allegation will only put its own PV industry in danger, as Chinese companies may opt to pull out of the US market if further sanctions are put in place, another industry insider told the Global Times on Thursday.

This year, the US customs has detained solar panel imports from Chinese companies on suspicion they contained silicon material from companies with ties to Xinjiang.

Other allegations from the West against the Chinese PV industry include dumping.

Despite Western suppression, China's PV industry is leading the world, with up to 80 percent of the solar panel production capacity coming from China.

Driven by China's carbon neutrality goal and other countries' green push pledges, silicon materials are in shortage. In 2018, the price of silicon materials was 70,000 yuan ($10,990) per ton, but this year it reached 270,000 yuan per ton, a reflection of the booming demand, Zhang Bing, the general manager with Yunnan Energy Investment Silicon Technology Development Co, a leading silicon producer, based in Southwest China's Yunnan Province, told the Global Times.

The more the US suppresses Chinese PV companies, the higher the cost of PV products in the US would be, because China's PV products are the cheapest in the world, Zhang said.

Industry insiders said that one important reason why China's PV industry can get to the forefront of the world is because of the continuous improvement of production lines and a high automation level, which have led to the reduction of production costs.

Low costs also help popularize PV power stations worldwide.

China's PV module exports in 2021 are estimated to have exceeded 100 gigawatts for the first time, a year-on-year growth rate of more than 25 percent, according to Zhang Sen, secretary-general of the solar and PV products branch at the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products.