China has announced a new “ethnic unity” law that critics say promotes Han nationalism and will enable the government to force minority groups to assimilate into the majority.
The draft law is set to be passed during a session of the National People’s Congress this week, and Chinese officials said it will strengthen the “common consciousness of the Chinese nation” and serve as a model for other countries dealing with ethnic tensions.
China once emphasised differences between ethnic groups and afforded the 55 official minorities special privileges, but President Xi Jinping has accelerated a move away from that model towards Han cultural dominance following violent unrest in Tibet and Xinjiang provinces in the 2000s.
The 62-article law will ban restrictions on intermarriage between members of ethnic minority groups and Han Chinese, who make up about 91% of the population, and removes the long-standing right of minorities to “use and develop their own language”, emphasising the use of Mandarin instead.
It also bans acts that “damage ethic unity”, and requires parents and guardians to “educate and guide minors to love the Chinese Communist Party” and to “establish the concept that all ethnic groups of the Chinese nation are one family and … not teach minors concepts detrimental to ethnic unity and progress”.
Human rights groups have warned the law justifies Chinese government repression of minorities, and will ramp up the absorption of other ethnicities into the Han via intermarriage in regions such as Tibet and Xinjiang where Beijing is attempting to out-populate minority groups via internal Han migration.
Maya Wang, associate Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said the law was a “blatant effort by the Chinese government to control people’s thoughts and expression about China both inside and outside the country” and called on other countries to pressure Beijing into dropping it.
“The Chinese government’s draft law on promoting ethnic unity seeks to mobilise the bureaucracy and society to unite people under Chinese Communist Party leadership at the expense of human rights,” she said.
“Tibetans, Uyghurs, and others who speak out for minority populations can expect even greater government repression.”
Jack Burnham, senior research analyst at Washington DC-based think tank the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), said the law was “intended to promote Han nationalism” and would “likely accelerate Beijing’s growing effort to repress the country’s ethnic minorities”.
“The law would force minorities to live in ‘mixed communities’ with a substantial Han population, as well as prosecuting parents for ‘imparting detrimental views’ to their children regarding Beijing’s current policy of ‘ethnic harmony’,” he said.
“The law also promotes the development of ‘new social customs’, including intermarriage. To that end, it bans minority families from preventing marriages based on identity grounds – a tactic intended to dissolve ethnic communities into the Han majority.”
But political advisor Chen Xiaoyan, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and an official with the All-China Federation of Taiwan Compatriots, said the law would benefit both the Chinese people and the global community.
“In a world where ethnic conflicts have led to conflicts and suffering, affecting the safety of people globally, the draft law lays a foundation for unity and happiness among China’s ethnic groups,” she told state media outlet China Daily on Tuesday.
“It will not only benefit the people of China but also serve as a valuable model for other countries and regions grappling with ethnic relations.”
She also said the law would benefit minority groups in Taiwan and help integrate them into the Chinese nation.
Header image: Xi Jinping (President.az, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons).
The post China brings in new ‘ethnic unity’ law to increase Han dominance first appeared on The Noticer.
The NoticerRead More
R1
T1
