China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) last week approved the Law Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress by an overwhelming majority. The vote was 2,756 in favor, three abstentions and three against. Around 442 delegates from ethnic minority groups — roughly 14% of parliament members — took part.
Beijing says the law will promote national unity and eliminate disadvantages faced by ethnic groups. China officially recognizes 56 ethnic groups; the Han majority accounts for about 92% of the 1.4 billion population. Other groups include the Mongols (6.3 million), the Hui (11.4 million), Tibetans (7.1 million) and Uyghurs (11.7 million). Some smaller groups, such as a small Jewish community, are not officially recognized.
The 65-article law takes effect on July 1. Article 1 declares its purpose is to “forge a strong sense of the community of the Chinese people” and to promote the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese people.” The law does not set out specific penalties, instead referring to the criminal code: Article 62 says that where organization, planning or carrying out violent terrorist activities, ethnic division activities or religious extremist activities constitutes a crime, criminal responsibility will be pursued according to law.
Critics warn the law gives Beijing broader scope to characterize demands for cultural autonomy as “separatism” and to intensify suppression of minorities. Turgunjan Alawdun, president of the Munich-based World Uyghur Congress, said the law, combined with the 2016 anti-terrorism law that underpinned mass internment camps, will further intensify repression of Uyghurs in Xinjiang — especially regarding language, culture and religion. The World Uyghur Congress advocates for exiled Uyghurs; its president referred to Xinjiang as “East Turkestan,” a term associated with Uyghur separatists.
Over the past decade, authorities in Xinjiang have detained large numbers of Uyghurs in so-called “vocational education and training centers” presented as anti-extremism measures. Rights groups and analysts say forced assimilation and Sinicization have caused severe harm. Jack Burnham of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies says the new law provides a de facto legal justification for intensified repression, citing measures that have included restrictions on prayer, destruction of historic mosques, and incentives encouraging large-scale Han resettlement. Uyghurs today make up about 45% of Xinjiang’s population.
A key change is the elevation of Mandarin Chinese in education and public life. The law requires schools and educational institutions to use the nation’s common language and script as the basic medium for teaching. The state is to promote preschool Mandarin so that youth finishing compulsory education have a basic understanding of the common language and script. Ideologically, the law also requires the state to lead each ethnic group to “carry forward an ethnic spirit with patriotism at its core” and to identify with the motherland, the Chinese people, Chinese culture, the Chinese Communist Party and Socialism with Chinese Characteristics.
Observers say these provisions effectively promote Han-majority norms and bind ethnic groups more closely to the Han-dominated majority and the Communist Party. Burnham argues the law forces minorities into “mixed communities” with substantial Han populations and emphasizes Mandarin over regional languages, which many minorities view as essential markers of identity. Resistance has erupted before: in 2020, large-scale protests occurred in Inner Mongolia after authorities moved to replace Mongolian-language textbooks in primary and middle schools.
The law’s broad definitions and references to criminal law have fueled fears that cultural, linguistic and religious practices may be criminalized as “ethnic division” or “extremism,” particularly in Tibet and Xinjiang, where suppression of minority identity has already been intensified.
This article was originally published in German.