For years, Chinese leader Xi Jinping has pushed ethnic minority groups like Tibetans and Uyghurs to adopt an identity rooted in Chinese nationality and allegiance to the ruling Communist Party.

Now, that push has been codified into a sweeping new law that reaches into classrooms, neighborhoods and homes – and gives Beijing the right to target people outside of its borders that it believes violate its rules.

The statute, officially known as the Ethnic Unity and Progress Promotion Law, came into effect on July 1. It bans acts that “undermine ethnic unity or create ethnic division” among China’s 56 officially recognized ethnicities, which include a Han Chinese majority that makes up over 90% of the country’s 1.4 billion people.

Under the new rules, schools and government agencies must use Mandarin Chinese as their primary language; classrooms must ensure that their curriculum “forges a strong sense of the community of the Chinese people,” and all parents must guide children to “love the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese people.”

The state is mandated to support museums, libraries and other cultural institutions to hold events reflecting Chinese history and national prosperity, while local authorities must work toward ethnic integration in their housing policies – a stipulation observers suggest could lead to housing relocations.

Organizations and individuals outside mainland China that “undermine” ethnic unity or “create ethnic division” will also be held liable, the law says – a broad-based stipulation that critics say will impact activism, research and discussion of ethnic minority issues globally.

In an address marking the 105th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party on Wednesday, Xi emphasized the law’s importance by calling on all party members to “continuously consolidate and strengthen the great unity of all ethnic groups.”

The legislation has already drawn criticism from rights groups and experts, who say that it could suppress minority cultural identity, religious practice and language.

In an April letter, United Nations human rights experts said the law “could have serious implications for the linguistic, cultural, and religious autonomy of ethnic communities, including Tibetans, Uyghurs, and Mongols.”

They also warned of the potential for “transnational repression,” given that the law may be applied overseas.

A ‘chilling effect’

For some observers, the law appears to be a final step in a years-long evolution of Chinese policy to emphasize national identity over ethnic autonomy. Critics have viewed that policy shift as a aggressive push toward assimilation.

It’s also widely seen as part of a broader vision to ensure national security under Xi, who came to power in 2012 following widespread 2008 protests in Tibet and deadly unrest in Xinjiang, home to its Uyghur minority.

With the new law, “Beijing is no longer treating ‘ethnic unity’ as a general political slogan or a matter of local propaganda work,” said James Leibold, a professor at La Trobe University in Melbourne focused on China’s ethnic policies.

“It is making the production of a single Chinese national identity a binding responsibility across schools, families, media, museums, cadres, budgets, technology platforms and security organs,” he said.

“The message is clear: minority identity is acceptable only when it is subordinated to a party-defined Chinese identity.”

Leibold also points to a likely “chilling effect” of the law on overseas scholars, journalists, activists, diaspora communities and others who study or criticise China’s nationality and borderland policies, saying it could encourage “self-censorship, discourage travel, and narrow scholarly debate.”

In recent years China’s Communist Party has ramped up oversight of religious institutions, rolled back the use of ethnic minority languages in primary, secondary schools and kindergartens. Beijing has and been accused of serious human violations, including large-scale arbitrary detention of Uyghur and other Muslim minorities, in Xinjiang. Chinese officials deny those claims.

It’s also faced allegations of widespread transnational repression. A 2022 report from human rights campaigner Safeguard Defenders said it had found evidence of more than 100 so-called overseas police stations across the globe to monitor, harass and in some cases repatriate Chinese citizens living in exile. Beijing has denied this.

Beijing says its new ethnic unity law protects “the legitimate rights and interests of all ethnic groups” and “does not undermine ethnic minorities’ use of their own language.”

When asked about the potential for “long-arm jurisdiction” at a press conference Monday, Vice Minister of Justice Hu Weilie said it aligns with the basic norms of international law for countries to protect their sovereignty.

“Ethnic unity is a crucial cornerstone of national prosperity and development,” he said. “Illegal activities that deliberately incite ethnic tensions, undermine ethnic unity, and endanger national security will erode the foundation of ethnic unity and harm the public interest and the legitimate rights and interests of the people.” (CNN)

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