BEIJING - China on Wednesday implemented a law promoting "ethnic unity" that critics fear will further assimilation policies targeting ethnic minorities and hold overseas organizations and individuals legally accountable for creating divisions among the majority Han Chinese and the country's 55 ethnic minority groups.
The Ethnic Unity and Progress Promotion Law, adopted by China's largely rubber-stamp parliament in March, also aims to advance efforts toward unification between mainland China and Taiwan, the self-ruled island claimed by Beijing.
The new law stipulates that the state will "promote cross-strait economic and cultural exchanges and cooperation" and "enhance Taiwan compatriots' sense of belonging" to the Chinese people.
Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council said last Thursday that the law contains vague provisions that could be used to intimidate people, warning that they encourage self-censorship by leaving people uncertain about what conduct could be deemed illegal.
Liang Wen-chieh, deputy head of the council, said Taiwanese should remain vigilant regardless of the law's entry into force, noting that Beijing can already prosecute them under broadly defined offenses. "The risks of traveling to mainland China remain exactly the same," he added.
China regards Taiwan as a renegade province to be brought into its fold by force if necessary. Taiwan and Communist-led China have been governed separately since 1949 due to a civil war.
A senior official of the ruling Communist Party's United Front Work Department in charge of ethnic minority policies stressed the significance of the legislation at a press conference in late June, saying it will promote the building of a "strong sense of community for the Chinese nation."
Overseas rights groups have criticized the law, saying it will further curb the freedoms of ethnic minorities, including Tibetans, Uyghurs and Mongols.
In mid-June, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk called for the legislation to be repealed, claiming it "risks deepening restrictions on freedoms of language, education, practice of religion, culture, expression and assembly" and "penalizing the peaceful exercise of minority rights in general."
The law stipulates that matters concerning ethnic unity are "not to be interfered with by foreign forces" and "all acts using excuses such as ethnicity, religion or human rights to insult and suppress" China are to be "resolutely opposed."
In schools, the state will promote the learning of Mandarin among preschoolers, but the law also states that all ethnic groups in China are "equal" and that the government protects the use of minority languages and scripts.
It also says citizens "have the right to make complaints or reports" about conduct undermining ethnic unity, in a move encouraging community surveillance.
A human rights lawyer in China expressed concern that the authorities could arbitrarily enforce the law because it does not specify what constitutes a violation, adding that it could be used to "get rid of groups or individuals who are inconvenient" for the country's leadership.
In Japan, four groups of lawmakers issued a statement Tuesday to express concern over the new legislation, saying it could intensify crackdowns on ethnic minorities in China economically, socially and culturally.
The statement also said the law's extraterritorial application could undermine freedom of speech and academic research in Japan while increasing surveillance of Tibetans and Uyghurs living in the country.
Keiji Furuya of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, who heads one of the lawmakers' groups, said no democratic country "can tolerate" the legislation and stressed the need to lodge a protest.
Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi told a press conference Tuesday that Tokyo will "appropriately deal with" the new Chinese legislation so that the safety of Japanese nationals will not be endangered.
