{"id":931398,"date":"2026-09-02T11:20:54","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T16:20:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/02\/china-the-ethnic-unity-law-means-there-is-one-acceptable-way-to-be-chinese\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T11:20:54","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T16:20:54","slug":"china-the-ethnic-unity-law-means-there-is-one-acceptable-way-to-be-chinese","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/02\/china-the-ethnic-unity-law-means-there-is-one-acceptable-way-to-be-chinese\/","title":{"rendered":"CHINA: \u2018The Ethnic Unity Law Means There Is One Acceptable Way to Be Chinese\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Active Citizens<\/a>, Asia-Pacific<\/a>, Civil Society<\/a>, Education<\/a>, Featured<\/a>, Headlines<\/a>, Human Rights<\/a>, Press Freedom<\/a>, Religion<\/a>, TerraViva United Nations<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

Aug 5 2026 (IPS) <\/span>– \u00a0
\nCIVICUS speaks about China\u2019s 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.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

Gulchehra Hoja<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

On 1 July, China\u2019s 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\u2019s 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\u2019s reach over critics living in other countries.<\/p>\n

What does the new Ethnic Unity Law state?<\/strong><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

But none of this is new. The law formalises practices that are already in place and turns repression into official state policy. For years the Chinese government has closed Uyghur-language schools, demolished mosques, imprisoned intellectuals, separated children from their families and sent more than a million Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples into detention camps. Ordinary expressions of Uyghur identity can attract suspicion.<\/p>\n

Every government wants security and stability. The question is how those goals are pursued and who ends up defined as a threat. Under this law the answer is anyone whose identity does not fit. The Ethnic Unity Law strengthens Communist Party authority, not minority rights. It tells minorities that loyalty to the Communist Party matters more than their identity and that even the most ordinary parts of life are subject to state control.<\/p>\n

Doesn\u2019t China\u2019s constitution protect minority languages and autonomy?<\/strong><\/p>\n

On paper, Article 4 guarantees all ethnic groups the right to use their own languages and preserve their cultures. But there is an enormous gap between what the law says and what happens.<\/p>\n

I come from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. For Beijing, it is a strategic asset that connects China to Central Asia, holds vast natural resources and plays a central role in the country\u2019s long-term economic and security ambitions. But for Uyghurs, it\u2019s our home. It is where generations of our people have lived and built their lives.<\/p>\n

The region is officially described as autonomous, but autonomy must include genuine local political participation, real cultural protection and the right to use and teach our language freely. Where those are missing, autonomy exists in name only. <\/p>\n

Which communities does the law reach, and how is it enforced?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Uyghurs are the first victims, but we are certainly not the only ones. The law reaches Hong Kong activists, religious communities, Southern Mongolians and Tibetans. It can even be applied to Chinese citizens whose beliefs or identities just don\u2019t fit the Communist Party\u2019s vision. And because it applies beyond China\u2019s territory, it reaches all of them wherever they live.<\/p>\n

Paramilitary institutions, police, security agencies and universities work together, so every part of society is drawn into monitoring and reshaping people\u2019s identities. Students from China\u2019s National Security College, for example, were sent to East Turkistan to study governance centres, neighbourhood grid management, police stations and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, the state-owned paramilitary body that runs its own cities, courts, police and prisons across the region. This was not an academic visit. It was training in how to put a population under surveillance.<\/p>\n

What are the risks of speaking out?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I know them personally. In authoritarian systems, telling the truth can be treated as a crime. I was branded a terrorist not because I committed violence but because I practised journalism and dared to speak out. And it was not only me who paid for it. After I reported on what was happening in East Turkistan, 25 members of my family were detained.<\/p>\n

I am not alone in this. The Chinese government fears independent reporting, and that is why it works so hard to control information. Foreign journalists have been expelled, local journalists imprisoned and many Uyghur journalists working for international media have seen relatives disappeared, imprisoned or sent to detention camps simply for continuing to report.<\/p>\n

The new law gives Beijing further justification to present peaceful advocacy as a threat to national unity. It also sends a message to Uyghurs living in Canada, Europe, Latin America, Turkey and the USA: we are still watching you. That is what transnational repression means.<\/p>\n

What should the international community do?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Governments should not judge this law by its title but by its consequences. They should continue documenting human rights abuses, expose China\u2019s efforts to intimidate critics abroad, sanction the officials responsible for these policies and strengthen protections for Uyghur journalists and refugees. We\u2019ll keep documenting these stories even when access is restricted, but we can\u2019t do it alone.<\/p>\n

This is not only about Uyghurs. It is about whether a government can erase a people\u2019s culture, history, language and religion and call it unity. That question should concern everyone.<\/p>\n

CIVICUS interviews a wide range of civil society activists, experts and leaders to gather diverse perspectives on civil society action and current issues for publication on its CIVICUS Lens platform. The views expressed in interviews are the interviewees\u2019 and do not necessarily reflect those of CIVICUS. Publication does not imply endorsement of interviewees or the organisations they represent.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\nGulchehra Hoja\/LinkedIn<\/a><\/p>\n

SEE ALSO<\/strong>
\nTransnational repression: \u2018China feels emboldened to globalise its political red lines\u2019<\/a> CIVICUS Lens | Interview with Barbora Bukovsk\u00e1 19.May.2026
\nChina: \u2018The state is using generative AI to engineer reality through informational gaslighting\u2019<\/a> CIVICUS Lens | Interview with Fergus Ryan 12.Mar.2026
\nThe long reach of authoritarianism<\/a> CIVICUS Lens 20.Mar.2024<\/p>\n

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CIVICUS
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