Tibetan Govt in exile condemn China's Ethnic Unity Law, warn it will intensify repression

The law, signed by Chinese President Xi Jinping on March 12, calls for ethnic unity and will come into effect on July 1, 2026.

It is widely seen as a legal mechanism to assimilate China's 55 officially recognised ethnic minorities into the dominant Han Chinese population, raising concerns over potential human rights violations.

The leaders described the move as a longstanding repression that accelerates the erasure of Tibetan, Uyghur, and other minority cultures.

Dorjee Tseten, a member of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile, told ANI that "The so-called China Ethnic Unity Law is effectively legalising the genocide of Tibetan people and other regional communities."

Tseten said the law, already informally enforced in parts of China, is now being codified into formal legislation and represents "China's colonial objective of eradicating Tibetan values, rights, language, and culture."

"We strongly condemn this Act," Tseten added, warning that it could criminalise people for practising their language and culture -- "a basic human right."

Thubten Wangchen, another MP in exile, echoed these concerns, asserting that Beijing's wider objective is to "Sinicise Tibet, Uyghurs, Xinjiang, and other regions", enforcing a doctrine he paraphrased as "one country, one language, one nationality".

"This is extremely dangerous," Wangchen said, urging the international community to "work together to prevent the success of this project."

Tenzin Lekshay, spokesperson for the Tibetan Government in Exile, criticised China's narrative of stability under the law, saying it masks "a new mechanism to control people who are already oppressed and have a dissenting voice." Instead, he said, "this ethnic law is not about unity but about uniformity -- creating a homogeneous China under Chinese characteristics." He argued that true stability would come from granting freedoms, not legal restrictions.

The Tibetan leadership in exile has called on the international community to closely monitor the implementation of the law and raise concerns over its potential impact on human rights and cultural freedoms. (ANI)