China's ethnic unity law takes effect amid global criticism
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- China's Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress took effect, aiming to forge a "shared" national identity by strengthening Mandarin as the official language in education, official business, and public spaces.
- Amnesty International deputy regional director Sarah Brooks said the law would require "political and ideological alignment with the Chinese Communist party" and "further institutionalise ... policies of forced assimilation."
- UN rights chief Volker Turk called for repeal, warning the law would "deepen restrictions on freedoms of language, education, religion, culture, expression and assembly."
- Taiwan's foreign ministry issued "strong condemnation" on the law's first day, warning it expanded "threats and intimidation against the people of our country and other nations" and could be used to pursue people abroad.
- Nine US lawmakers, including the top Republican and Democrat on the Senate foreign relations committee, pledged continued opposition to Beijing's "transnational repression" and warned the law's ideological-compliance clause could hold people outside China legally responsible.
- Vice-minister of justice Hu Weilie defended the law's extraterritorial enforcement clause as "legitimate, lawful [and] necessary," targeting "illegal acts" that "undermine ethnic unity and progress or incite ethnic separatism."
- Uyghur and Tibetan advocates urged countries to push China to strike down the law, saying it aims to erase minority communities — a charge Beijing denies, maintaining all ethnic groups benefit from its internal security and economic policies.
Why it matters: The law's extraterritorial clause gives Beijing legal cover to pursue dissidents, Uyghur and Tibetan advocates, and Taiwan supporters abroad — turning what reads as a domestic policy into a global speech code. Nine US senators from both parties pledged to keep pushing back against Beijing's "transnational repression," signaling sustained bipartisan friction with China on rights grounds.
