June 7 (Reuters) - Chinese battery companies CATL

and Gotion High Tech should be added

immediately to a U.S. import ban list, a group of Republican

lawmakers said, alleging their supply chains use forced labour,

the Wall Street Journal reported.

The lawmakers called for CATL and Gotion, which have ties to

Ford and Volkswagen, respectively, to be added to what is known

as the entity list under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act,

the report said on Thursday.

The entity list restricts the import of goods tied to what

the U.S. government has characterised as an ongoing genocide of

minorities in China's Xinjiang region. Beijing denies any

abuses.

Any allegation that Gotion "uses or is related to forced

labor is baseless and absolutely false", the company said in an

emailed statement to Reuters, adding that the selection of

partners is based on "strict review mechanisms and evaluation

criteria".

Volkswagen Group China has no evidence of human rights

violations in connection with its business activities in China,

a company spokesperson told Reuters in an emailed statement on

Friday.

Volkswagen is also investigating these allegations

immediately, "as we have done it in the past", the spokesperson

added.

Volkswagen China Investment Co holds 26% of shares in

Gotion, and the latter is not nominated for any U.S. projects or

import business into the country, the Volkswagen spokesperson

said.

CATL said in a statement that the allegations against it

were "groundless and completely false", and that it was in

compliance with applicable laws and regulations.

Business relations with some suppliers which were cited,

it said, "ceased long ago".

Ford did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for

comment.