Click to expand Image High school students attend a Chinese language class at a public boarding school for students from northern Tibet, in Lhasa in China's Tibet Autonomous Region, June 1, 2021. © 2021 Mark Schiefelbein/AP Photo (New York) – A newly proposed law in China would provide a broad legal framework to justify existing repression and force assimilation of minority populations throughout the country and abroad, Human Rights Watch said today. Once passed, the law could be used to facilitate intensifying ideological controls, target ethnic and religious minorities including by erasing minority language rights, and foster control beyond China’s borders.The 62-article draft Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress was submitted to the National People’s Congress, China’s legislature, on September 8, 2025. An official explanatory document states that the law “implements General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important thinking” on ethnic affairs and promotes “the common prosperity and development of all ethnic groups … along the path of rule of law.”“The Chinese government’s draft law on promoting ethnic unity seeks to mobilize the bureaucracy and society to unite people under Chinese Communist Party leadership at the expense of human rights,” said Maya Wang, associate Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Tibetans, Uyghurs, and others who speak out for minority populations can expect even greater government repression.”The draft law prescribes a rigid and uniform ideological framework for China. In its preamble, it asserts an unbroken historical continuity of the modern People’s Republic of China, established in 1949, as “a civilization with a history of over 5,000 years” that has forged “a unified multi-ethnic nation” under the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Xi Jinping has increasingly emphasized this narrative and these specific phrases while adopting ethnic policies characterized by forced assimilation.The draft law formalizes the ideological framework of “a common consciousness of the Chinese nation” in such areas as education, religion, history, culture, tourism, mass media, and the internet. For example, article 14 directs that authorities “establish and highlight … Chinese cultural symbols” in public facilities, architecture, and tourist sites, including when naming places.It also directs integrating such ideology into urban and rural planning and economic development, such as housing policies that promote “ethnic unity” (article 23), and when protecting China’s security, such as food and border security (article 34). Additionally, article 40 says the authorities should “promote the transformation of customs and habits” ensuring “civilization and progress” when it comes to marriage, and prevent anyone from obstructing marriages on ethnic or religious grounds.While ethnic affairs have traditionally been the responsibility of the CCP’s United Front Work Department, which in recent years has grown in authority, article 12 of the draft law mobilizes the state to “organize education” to “guide people of all ethnic groups to firmly establish correct views of the state, of history, of the nation, of culture and of religion.” Article 44 would also mobilize “enterprises and public institutions,” including industry associations, foundations, and religious institutions that have increasingly come under party control, to promote the CCP’s ideology.Under article 20(2), parents and guardians would be required to “educate and guide minors to love the Chinese Communist Party,” and “establish the concept that all ethnic groups of the Chinese nation are one family and shall not teach minors concepts detrimental to ethnic unity and progress.”The draft law prohibit acts that “damage ethnic unity,” an overly broad label the government has long abused to punish minority community members deemed noncompliant with party policies.In Tibet, criticism of the government or party, such as championing language rights or raising concerns about mass relocations, is often construed as damaging “ethnic unity” and punished by imprisonment under existing laws.In Xinjiang, the Chinese government has justified its cultural persecution and other crimes against humanity toward Uyghurs in terms similar to those contained in the draft law. Its abusive Strike-Hard Campaign targets anyone who “challenges … ethnic unity,” categorizing some peaceful expressions and behavior by Uyghurs, such as studying the Quran without state permission, as “ideological viruses.”The draft law seeks to erase previously guaranteed rights of minorities to “use and develop their own language” as stipulated in the 1984 Law on Regional National Autonomy, emphasizing instead the dominance of Mandarin Chinese.For example, the 1984 law states that government agencies in minority areas “shall … use one or several languages commonly used in the locality.” But article 15(3) of the draft law states that “if it is necessary to issue documents in minority languages and scripts,” agencies should accompany it with a version in Mandarin Chinese and that it should be clear that “the national common language” is “given prominence.” Such practices have already been required, at least in the Tibetan Autonomous Region.The 1984 law states that schools “that mainly recruit minority students should use textbooks in minority languages if possible and teach in minority languages.” The 1984 law is also flexible regarding when minority students should start learning Mandarin: “from the lower or upper grades of primary schools according to the situation.” But the draft law, under article 15, would require preschool children to learn to speak Mandarin Chinese and “be able to basically master” it by the end of their compulsory education, typically at age 15.In Tibet, Xinjiang, and Inner Mongolia, the authorities have already significantly reduced students’ access to education in their mother tongue, despite strong opposition and protests by students, teachers, and parents.The draft law also demands ideological uniformity outside China. Article 17 states that the authorities should propagate such ideas through “exchanges and cooperation among Chinese and foreign academia, civil society groups, and think tanks.” The law notes that it will promote such consciousness among the “Taiwan compatriots,” referring to the people of the island nation of Taiwan, to “strengthen their understanding that we all belong to the Chinese nation,” and among overseas Chinese “compatriots.” Article 61 states that “organizations and individuals outside the territory of the People’s Republic of China” that “undermine national unity and progress or incite ethnic division” will be held “legally accountable.”In recent years, the Chinese government has demanded that foreign institutions refer to Tibet as Xizang, a Mandarin name for the region. The Chinese government has routinely engaged in transnational repression—harassing and intimidating Chinese students studying abroad and members of the diaspora, including by threatening their families back home—to enforce such ideological control. In July, the authorities arrested a Chinese student for the serious crime of “inciting separatism” by speaking out for Tibetan rights while abroad.“The draft law on ethnic unity is a blatant effort by the Chinese government to control people’s thoughts and expression about China both inside and outside the country,” Wang said. “Concerned countries should push back against these efforts by pressing the Chinese government to scrap the law and stop persecuting ethnic minority communities and their supporters.”