For Tibetans, China’s ethnic minorities law is assimilation dressed up as ‘unity’
On 1 July 2026, China’s National People’s Congress enacted the Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress, a 65-article statute passed in March by a near-unanimous vote. Beijing presents it as a modernising measure meant to bind the country’s 56 officially recognised ethnic groups into what officials call ‘a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation’. For the roughly seven million Tibetans…
On 1 July 2026, China officially unveiled the Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress, a comprehensive 65-article statute aimed at fostering a sense of community among China's 56 officially recognized ethnic groups. While Beijing frames the legislation as a modernizing measure, the impact on Tibetans, estimated at nearly seven million living in the country and an additional 150,000 in exile, is far more contentious.
The law appears to be the legalization of an assimilation project that has been in progress for nearly two decades.
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