The statute represents the culmination of a policy shift dating back to the 2014 Central Ethnic Work Conference, in which Beijing moved away from the Soviet-derived framework of nominal ethnic autonomy and toward what scholars call “second-generation ethnic policies” – an assimilationist approach prioritizing a unified national identity over accommodation of ethnic difference. Provincial governments in places like Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia had already passed local “ethnic unity” regulations in 2015 and 2021 respectively; the new statute elevates this approach into national law.
tirsdag 30. juni 2026
China’s New “Ethnic Unity” Law: Why Taiwan, Uyghurs, and Tibetans Are Alarmed
On March 12, 2026, China’s National People’s Congress adopted the Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress, a sweeping piece of legislation that takes effect July 1, 2026. The law codifies more than a decade of policy under Xi Jinping aimed at forging a single, Party-defined “Chinese national identity” out of the country’s 56 officially recognized ethnic groups.
The statute represents the culmination of a policy shift dating back to the 2014 Central Ethnic Work Conference, in which Beijing moved away from the Soviet-derived framework of nominal ethnic autonomy and toward what scholars call “second-generation ethnic policies” – an assimilationist approach prioritizing a unified national identity over accommodation of ethnic difference. Provincial governments in places like Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia had already passed local “ethnic unity” regulations in 2015 and 2021 respectively; the new statute elevates this approach into national law.
The statute represents the culmination of a policy shift dating back to the 2014 Central Ethnic Work Conference, in which Beijing moved away from the Soviet-derived framework of nominal ethnic autonomy and toward what scholars call “second-generation ethnic policies” – an assimilationist approach prioritizing a unified national identity over accommodation of ethnic difference. Provincial governments in places like Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia had already passed local “ethnic unity” regulations in 2015 and 2021 respectively; the new statute elevates this approach into national law.