China’s New Ethnic Minority Law Seeks To Legitimize Ongoing Repression

Beijing is increasing its efforts to reshape the very face of Chinese society.

The National People’s Congress (NPC) is slated to consider a new law intended to promote “ethnic unity and progress” — a euphemism for tightening repression of the country’s 56 officially recognized ethnic minorities by attempting to eliminate their educational and language rights.

Along with impacting embattled ethnic minority communities across China, the law will likely further erode educational and religious freedoms within Tibet and the northwestern province of Xinjiang while providing a veneer of legality to Beijing’s ongoing human rights abuses.

‘Ethnic Unity’ Law Intended To Promote Han Nationalism

The proposed law would codify several regressive social policies, including restrictions on ethnic marriage, education, and expression rights.

Along with emphasizing Mandarin, rather than regional dialects, in educational settings and official communications, 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.” 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.

The proposed legislation follows earlier provincial-level efforts to restrict the rights of ethnic minorities, which compromise roughly 8 percent of the population. Protests erupted across Inner Mongolia in 2020 after authorities banned the use of Mongolian in certain primary and middle curriculums. Several provinces have reduced or eliminated programs to promote minority representation in higher education by reforming the scoring process for the gaokao, the national university entrance exam. 

China Continues Brutal Crackdown on Tibet and Xinjiang

The law will likely accelerate Beijing’s growing effort to repress the country’s ethnic minorities, particularly within Tibet and Xinjiang.

During his most recent visits to Tibet, Chinese paramount leader Xi Jinping praised local authorities’ efforts to curb “separatism” and held a ceremony at a local boarding school to celebrate Beijing’s efforts to promote Mandarin language education. Last August, Xi also called for greater regulation of religious affairs to “guide Tibetan Buddhism to adapt to socialist society,” an effort directly in line with the law’s intention to reform minorities’ social customs.

The law will also likely underpin Beijing’s ongoing genocide within Xinjiang by offering a de facto legal justification for its forced relocation efforts. Along with incentivizing ethnic Han Chinese to move to the region and encouraging intermarriage, Chinese authorities have forcibly moved thousands of people, mostly Muslim Uyghurs, the region’s predominant ethnic group, deeper into the interior as both a source of forced labor and a method to dilute their political influence. This effort builds on previous repression in Xinjiang, including mass imprisonment, forced sterilization, and “reeducation efforts” aimed at destroying long-standing cultural and religious practices. Specific measures taken by the Chinese state include preventing Uyghurs from attending prayers, and destroying historic mosques.   

Washington Should Prepare Sanctions Packages in Advance of Expected Abuses

While the law’s passage through the rubber stamp NPC is all but assured, the move highlights Xi’s consistent focus on repressing ethnic minorities to reshape Chinese society in his image. In an unusual move, Xi directly lobbied the Politburo, the Chinese Communist Party’s senior leadership, for the law’s swift introduction.

In anticipation of crackdowns on minority rights, the United States should consider preparing conditions-based sanctions packages targeting Chinese authorities most likely to become involved in enforcing repression against civil society leaders, religious figures, and protestors. These efforts should build on the U.S. Treasury Department’s 2022 sanctions package against regional Chinese authorities involved in repressing Tibetans, which particularly targeted in particular those officials involved in the indoctrination of children across the region’s education system.

Jack Burnham is a senior research analyst in the China Program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). For more analysis from Jack and FDD, please subscribe HERE. Follow Jack on X @JackBurnham802. Follow FDD on X @FDD. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.