China set to pass new ethnic minority law, prioritise use of Mandarin language

Critics say the move will further erode the identity of people who are not majority Han Chinese. Read more at straitstimes.com.

BEIJING - China is expected to pass a law on a “shared” national identity among the country’s 55 ethnic minority groups on March 12, a move critics say will further erode the identity of people who are not majority Han Chinese and risk making anyone challenging that “unity” a separatist punishable by law.

The ethnic minority law, called Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress, aims to forge national unity and advance the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) at its core, a draft copy of the law showed.

It is due to be passed at the closing session of the annual meeting of the National People’s Congress, China’s legislature.

Officially, China has 56 officially recognised ethnic groups, dominated by the Han Chinese, who account for more than 91 per cent of the country’s 1.4 billion people.

China’s ethnic minority populations – including Tibetans, Mongols, Hui, Manchus and Uyghurs – are concentrated in regions that together cover roughly half of the country’s land area, much of it rich in natural resources.

The law aims to promote integration across ethnic groups through education, housing, migration, community life, culture, tourism and development policy, the law said.