China’s Ethnic Unity Law threatens Hong Kongers and diasporas worldwide
On Wednesday 1 July, the Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress (the Ethnic Unity and Progress Law or “EUPL”) of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) came into force.
The move was widely criticised by overseas activists and NGOs, including Hong Kong Watch Chair and co-founder Benedict Rogers and Patron Miriam Lexmann MEP, as well as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, US lawmakers on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council. On Thursday, Tibetan exile Pawo Lobga Rangzen died in a self-immolation protest against the Law outside the UN Headquarters, the first such protest on US soil. On Friday 3 July, PRC spokesman Guo Jiakun rejected criticisms of the Law, calling such criticisms an attempt to interfere in China’s internal affairs.
The EUPL aims to forge a “shared” national identity among the PRC’s 56 officially recognised ethnic groups, placing a heavy emphasis on Mandarin as the language of education from preschool to university level, and promoting the history, values, and ideology of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) within schools. This even extends to parents, which under Article 20 of the EUPL have an obligation to “guid[e] minors to love the Chinese Communist Party, Motherland, people [人民], and the Chinese people [中华民族]”.
The EUPL places further emphasis on Patriotic Education reforms in the Hong Kong SAR, stating under Article 21 that the state shall guide Hong Kong residents to “consciously preserve the nation’s sovereignty, security, and development interests.” These measures are further to the national-level 2023 Patriotic Education Law and 2021 reforms to Hong Kong’s schools to promote “national security education”.
The Law also contains vague and sweeping provisions criminalising “Acts that undermine ethnic unity and create ethnic division”. Under Article 63, these provisions apply to organisations and individuals outside the territory of the PRC, a feature reminiscent of the extraterritoriality clauses of the 2020 Hong Kong National Security Law and the 2024 Safeguarding National Security Ordinance.
Hong Kong Watch strongly condemns the introduction of the Ethnic Unity and Progress Law as a troubling development in Beijing’s increasingly ethno-nationalist rhetoric and policymaking towards its border regions, its cultural and linguistic minorities, and its neighbouring countries.
Megan Khoo, Policy Director at Hong Kong Watch, said:
“We condemn the extraterritorial application of this law as a clear act of transnational repression, aiming to intimidate overseas ethnic minority diasporas as well as NGOs, pro-democracy Taiwanese, and other opponents of authoritarian rule. We urge lawmakers around the world to issue condemnations of this law, and to introduce protections against the transnational repression of Hong Kongers, other diaspora communities, exiled activists, and human rights defenders.”
香港監察強烈譴責中國《民族團結進步促進法》威脅香港人乃至全球離散族群
7月1日（星期三），《中華人民共和國民族團結進步促進法》生效。
此舉引起廣泛批評，當中包括香港監察信託董事會主席兼共同創辦人羅傑斯（Benedict Rogers）和香港監察贊助人、歐洲議會議員Miriam Lexmann MEP等海外活動人士和非政府組織，以及聯合國人權事務高級專員Volker Türk、美國參議院外交關係委員會議員和台灣大陸委員會。星期四，流亡藏人Lobga Rangzen在紐約聯合國總部外自焚抗議法例，最後身亡，這是美國國土上首次發生這類抗議活動。星期五，中國外交部發言人郭嘉昆駁斥對法例的批評，稱這些批評企圖干涉中國內政。
《民族團結進步促進法》的目的是建立中國56個官方認可民族群體「共享的」民族認同，強調從學前到其餘義務教育階段都必須以普通話為主要教學語言，並在校內推廣中國共產黨的歷史、價值觀和意識形態。這甚至延伸到父母，根據《民族團結進步促進法》第20條，父母有義務「引導未成年人熱愛中國共產黨、熱愛祖國、熱愛人民、熱愛中華民族」。
《民族團結進步促進法》進一步強調香港特別行政區的愛國主義教育改革，第21條列明，國家將引導香港居民「自覺維護國家主權、安全、發展利益」。這些措施補充2023年《中華人民共和國愛國主義教育法》和旨在推動「國家安全教育」的2021年《香港國家安全教育課程框架》。
法例亦包含模糊而廣泛的的定罪依據 「破壞民族團結進步、製造民族分裂行為」。根據第63條，這些規定適用於中國境外的組織和個人，這點令人想起香港2020年《國家安全法》和2024年《維護國家安全條例》中的域外效力條款。
香港監察強烈譴責中國推行《民族團結進步促進法》，事件反映北京對邊境地區、文化及語言少數群體和鄰近國家的言論和政策愈來愈趨向族群民族主義的意識形態，令人不安。
香港監察政策總監Megan Khoo表示：
「我們譴責法例的域外效力，這明顯是跨國鎮壓行為，意圖恐嚇海外少數族裔離散群體，以及非政府組織、台灣民主人士及其他反對威權統治的人士。我們促請世界各國的立法者譴責這項法例，並推出措施保護香港人、其他離散族群、流亡活動人士和人權捍衛者免受跨國鎮壓。」
Photo: Dominic Kurniawan Suryaputra on Unsplash