China Passes Law Targeting Ethnic Minorities Under Unity Banner

Sweeping Legal Framework Codifies Assimilation

China's National People's Congress approved a controversial "ethnic unity" law on Thursday that critics say represents the most aggressive assimilationist policy framework since the founding of the People's Republic. The Ethnic Unity and Progress Promotion Law was adopted at the closing meeting of the fourth session of the 14th National People's Congress (NPC) and will take effect on July 1, 2026. The law was adopted by a near-unanimous vote of 2,756 in favour, with just three against and three abstentions.

The legislation formalizes President Xi Jinping's decade-long campaign to absorb the country's ethnic minorities into a Han-dominated national identity , affecting China's 55 officially recognized ethnic minorities that comprise roughly 8-9% of the population. The law, designated a "basic statute" requiring approval by the full legislature rather than its standing committee, mobilizes government bodies, private enterprises, religious institutions, neighborhood committees, and the military to advance ethnic assimilation.

The legislation's passage follows an unusual high-level push. In an unusual move, Xi directly lobbied the Politburo, the Chinese Communist Party's senior leadership, for the law's swift introduction. Last August, the Party revealed that the full Politburo had discussed a draft of the Law—the first such disclosure in almost four decades.

Language and Education Restrictions Formalized

The law codifies the predominance of Standard Chinese (Putonghua) in public life, codifying the goal of having preschoolers become proficient in Putonghua and requires that Chinese characters be displayed more prominently than minority scripts if both must be used in public. Educational institutions will now need to use Mandarin as the principal teaching language.

It lowers the status of minority languages in favor of Mandarin, encourages intermarriage between Han Chinese and other ethnicities by prohibiting restrictions on such unions, and requires parents to "educate and guide minors to love the Chinese Communist Party." Parents are reminded of their duty to provide lawful family education and are prohibited from "instilling in minors ideas detrimental to ethnic unity and progress".

The measure builds on existing regional policies that have already sparked resistance. Protests erupted across Inner Mongolia in 2020 after authorities banned the use of Mongolian in certain primary and middle curriculums. Yalkun Uluyol, a China researcher at Human Rights Watch, described the new legislation as a "significant departure" from a Deng Xiaoping-era policy that guaranteed the right of minorities to use their own languages.

Social Engineering and Mixed Communities

The law obligates the government to support "inter-embedded community environments" so that ethnic groups can "live, study, build, share, work, and enjoy together" and requires local governments to "forge a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation" and promote integration in all aspects of urban planning and governance. It bans minority families from preventing marriages based on identity grounds — a tactic intended to dissolve ethnic communities into the Han majority.

In the name of development, it announces the policy of "transforming outdated customs and traditions" and "promoting a new culture of civility and progress". The law's broad language gives authorities significant discretion in enforcement. It also prohibits, in broad terms, any acts deemed damaging to "ethnic unity," a formulation critics warn could be applied to silence virtually any expression of minority identity.

Global Implications and Expert Warnings

The law extends beyond China's borders, asserting extraterritorial jurisdiction. It also asserts jurisdiction over foreign organizations and individuals that "commit acts targeting the PRC that undermine ethnic unity and progress or create ethnic division" and empowers the state to pursue those outside of China perceived as undermining notions of ethnic unity. This provision has raised concerns about transnational repression.

Legal scholars warn the law contradicts China's own constitutional protections. Magnus Fiskesjö, an associate professor of anthropology at Cornell University, argues the law directly contradicts China's own constitution, noting Article 4 of the General Principles states: "All ethnic groups shall have the freedom to use and develop their own spoken and written languages," and called the new law as "openly contradicts the constitution."

The timing appears strategic as China approaches its modernization goals. According to historian Benno Weiner of Carnegie Mellon University, the law if enforced would mean that non-Han people could not express "any type of discontent without being accused of being essentially separatists or terrorists". This legal framework will likely accelerate existing policies in Tibet and Xinjiang, where authorities have already implemented forced boarding schools and population relocation programs that human rights groups have documented extensively.