Dozens of popular companies including Apple, Nike, Adidas, Uniqlo and Skechers have suppliers linked to forced labour in China involving Muslim minorities, according to a new report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI).

Key points: The UN says more than 1 million Uyghurs are detained in Xinjiang

The UN says more than 1 million Uyghurs are detained in Xinjiang ASPI's research claims that thousands of Uyghurs are being forcibly moved across China to work

ASPI's research claims that thousands of Uyghurs are being forcibly moved across China to work Beijing has denied abuses against Muslim minorities as "fake news"

Drawing upon open-source Chinese language documentation, satellite imagery, media reporting and academic research, the report entitled Uyghurs for Sale identifies some 83 well-known consumer brands linked to factories where Muslim minorities are thought to be working in forced labour conditions across China.

It reports that 80,000 Uyghur workers were transferred out of Xinjiang between 2017 and 2019, claiming that people are being effectively "bought" and "sold" by local governments and commercial brokers.

"Officials and private brokers receive money for every Uyghur person they manage to transfer. The recipient companies receive a cash inducement for every Uyghur they take," Vicky Xu, an ASPI researcher and lead author of the report, told the ABC.

"Everyone involved in this transfer scheme benefits except for Uyghur workers."

More than a million Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other Muslim ethnic minorities are thought to be detained in what the Communist Party calls vocational education centres but which are referred to by the UN as "re-education camps".

Some have observed it is likely the largest-scale incarceration of people based on religion since the Holocaust.

Satellite images of various 'vocational education' camps in Xinjaing. ( ABC News )

Movement of thousands of people on 'segregated trains'

The ASPI report claims that "Uyghur workers are often transported across China in special segregated trains" and that authorities and factory bosses continue to closely monitor them.

"The goal of these labour transfers are political," said Ms Xu, primarily aimed at "stripping [Uyghurs] of their unique culture and identity".

"At these factories, they continue to undergo organised Mandarin studies and indoctrination programs."

ASPI reported that O-Film, which manufactures selfie cameras for Apple, Huawei, Lenovo and Samsung, has 700 Uyghur workers who were transferred from Xinjiang and forced to "gradually alter their ideology" and "understand the Party's blessing".

Apple CEO Tim Cook visited the company's factory in Guangzhou in December 2017, and according to ASPI, at the time praised its "humane approach towards employees".

A statement supplied to the ABC said: "Apple is dedicated to ensuring that everyone in our supply chain is treated with the dignity and respect they deserve."

"We have not seen this report but we work closely with all our suppliers to ensure our high standards are upheld."

The Washington Post visited a factory which supplies 8 million pairs of Nike shoes annually and described a situation where Uyghur "graduates" of re-education camps had been forcibly moved to Laixi in eastern China.

"The Uyghurs had to come because they didn't have an option. The government sent them here," a local businessperson told the Post.

Nike did not respond to the ABC's request for comment.

'Stop hyping up Xinjiang issues', Ministry of Foreign Affairs says

The ABC requested comment from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the ASPI report but had not received a response by time of publication.

China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Zhao Lijian responds to questions about an ASPI report on Uyghur forced labour. ( Supplied )

But ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian responded to the allegations in a press conference, saying they were "simply baseless" and telling Australian media outlets to "stop hyping up Xinjiang-related issues".

"It is just another fabricated and biased accusation on Xinjiang by this institution to show its allegiance to the anti-China forces in the US and smear China's counter-terrorism and de-radicalisation measures in Xinjiang," Mr Zhao said.

"Such measures are taken in accordance with law and have produced good outcomes and won approval and support of all ethnic groups living in Xinjiang."

He added "all the students receiving education and training for de-radicalisation purposes have graduated, found stable jobs with the help of the Government and are living a happy life". But China has not provided evidence and rights groups have cast doubt on the statement.

Mr Zhao pointed out ASPI receives funding from the US State Department and said the group was "enthusiastic about cooking up and sensationalising anti-China topics".

"It is so imbued in ideological prejudice that it can be called a 'vanguard' in the anti-China campaign and its academic integrity has been called into serious question," he said.

Chinese businesses 'think it's a positive thing'

China is only one of a handful of countries that have not ratified the International Labour Organisation's Forced Labour Convention.

According to the watchdog organisation Global Slavery Index, forced labour is prevalent in China's "production of labour-intensive, cheap goods for export".

The ruling Communist Party has denied Muslims are detained en masse, with China's ambassador to Australia last year dismissing Western news reports as "fake news".

Ms Xu emphasised that much of the information included in the ASPI report came from publicly-available Chinese-language media, however.

A translation of an online advertisement in China claims "trainees" from Xinjiang are ready to be "ordered". ( Australian Strategic Policy Institute )

"Chinese factories and Chinese media think it's a positive thing that these Uyghurs are being moved away and are working under semi-military conditions and management," she said.

"They don't know how bad this looks to the rest of the world."

The president of Anhui province-based manufacturer HYP — which claims to supply sports brands Fila, Adidas, Puma and Nike — is quoted by ASPI as telling local media that he chose Xinjiang workers because "although the quality of North Korean workers is good, I'm reluctant to spend money on foreign workers".

The US has called China's treatment of Uyghurs the "stain of the century". ( Reuters: Murad Sezer )

Last year, the ABC reported that Japanese clothing brands Muji and Uniqlo were advertising "Xinjiang cotton" products, despite concerns about forced labour. Both are named in the ASPI report.

Some of the other brands named, including Abercrombie & Fitch, have since ended their relationships with suppliers accused of using forced labour.

While the Chinese tightly control access to Xinjiang for journalists, and claim the high-security camps are simply vocational training centres, evidence collated by media outlets, rights groups and researchers has increasingly painted a picture of widespread repression and abuses.

Australia has been a vocal critic of China's mass detention of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities.

Those living outside the camps are also subject to mass surveillance, with Beijing declaring it wants to "Sinicise Islam" — a hardline policy increasingly referred to by observers as "cultural genocide" against the Turkic minority group.

Dozens of Australian citizens have been caught by the dragnet of China's crackdown against Muslims in Xinjiang, many of whom have family members detained in the province.