Overview
- The Ethnic Unity and Progress Promotion Law, which took effect on July 1, 2026, includes Article 63 that allows China to pursue legal responsibility for organisations and individuals outside the mainland accused of undermining 'ethnic unity'.
- The law makes promotion of a shared Chinese national identity a legal duty across schools, museums, media and families and requires Mandarin to be the primary language of instruction for compulsory education.
- The United Nations human rights office called for repeal and cited risks to language, education, religion and assembly while the EU, Taiwan and a bipartisan group of US senators publicly expressed concern over the law’s vague terms and overseas reach.
- Rights groups and minority representatives say the statute formalises assimilation policies and could provide a stronger legal basis for transnational repression of diaspora activists, journalists and researchers, noting past patterns of overseas surveillance and alleged unofficial 'police stations'.
- Beijing defends the law as lawful and necessary to safeguard national unity and security, and governments are now weighing diplomatic measures, travel advisories and protections for affected minorities and expatriate communities.