CHINA: ‘The Ethnic Unity Law Means There Is One Acceptable Way to Be Chinese’

by CIVICUSWednesday, August 05, 2026Inter Press Service CIVICUS speaks about China’s recently implemented Ethnic Unity Law with Gulchehra Hoja, a correspondent for Reporters Without Borders and a Uyghur activist and journalist known for her reporting on human rights abuses against Uyghur people in China. Gulchehra HojaOn 1 July, China’s Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress came into effect. The law requires state and social bodies to foster a single national identity, gives Mandarin priority in education and government affairs, and can be applied beyond China’s borders to people accused of undermining ethnic unity or inciting separatism. The government says the law is consistent with international practice, but civil society fears it will deepen the forced assimilation of Tibetans and Uyghurs and extend the state’s reach over critics living in other countries.What does the new Ethnic Unity Law state?This new law means there is one acceptable way to be Chinese and requires every part of society, not just the state, to work towards it. Culture, faith and language become things to be managed rather than rights to be protected.But none of this is new. The law formalises practices...