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By Micah McCartney
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China has passed a new law to promote “ethnic unity,” but critics say it formalizes practices that suppress minority groups.
Why It Matters
China’s government recognizes 56 ethnic groups. In the past, many of these groups were permitted to teach classes in their native languages.
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However, since the 2010s, China, under President Xi Jinping, has stepped up assimilation efforts under what it calls the “Sinicization” of minorities. Han Chinese, who make up more than 90 percent of the population, are central to that push.
The new law builds on a government campaign that aimed to achieve Mandarin fluency among 85% of citizens by 2025.
Officials say Mandarin education improves students’ prospects in the job market. However, compulsory language policies have drawn resistance in areas such as Inner Mongolia, where, in 2020, thousands were detained for protesting against the rollout of bilingual education.
Newsweek reached out to the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., via email for comment.
What To Know
The law, approved Thursday at the close of the annual session of China’s parliament, aims to “fully promote and popularize” Mandarin, the national language.
According to the text, children are to be instructed in Mandarin from preschool through secondary education. Students from minority communities were, in the past, permitted to study in their native tongues, such as Tibetan or Uyghur, a language widely spoken in Xinjiang.
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Local governments are called on to build “inter‑embedded” communities, encouraging mixed residence among ethnic groups. It instructs local authorities to weave these goals into urban planning, housing policy, employment, and social services.
The law also provides for punishment for parents deemed to instill in their children ideas considered harmful to “ethnic unity,” a broadly worded term rights groups say has frequently been used against minorities who resist Chinese Communist Party policies.
“In Tibet, criticism of the government or party, such as advocating for language rights or raising concerns about mass relocations, is often treated as damaging ‘ethnic unity’ and punished with imprisonment under existing laws,” Human Rights Watch wrote in December.
“In Xinjiang, [the government’s] abusive Strike Hard Campaign targets anyone who challenges ethnic unity,” the group added, noting that some peaceful expressions by Uyghurs, such as studying the Quran without state approval, are labeled “ideological viruses.”
What People Are Saying
Maya Wang, associate Asia director at Human Rights Watch, told Newsweek the law represents a “formalization of existing, deeply abusive practices,” though she said assessing their full scope has been difficult because of severe information controls in areas such as Xinjiang and Tibet.
“The law is effectively about mobilizing the entire bureaucracy toward the goal of ethnic assimilation and unity,” she said.
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