A performance is staged during the launch ceremony for Beijing's publicity month on fostering a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation and the Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress at Beijing Garden Expo Park on April 29, 2026. Photo: VCG

For a unified, multi-ethnic country like China, the path toward properly addressing ethnic affairs in the course of advancing modern state governance places respect for and protection of the human rights of all ethnic groups at its core. This path is guided by the goal of fostering a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation. Furthermore, it upholds the unity, dignity and authority of the rule of law, and advances the modernization of the governance system and capacity for ethnic affairs through the rule of law. 

The Ethnic Unity and Progress Promotion Law, which took effect on July 1, strengthens the legal foundation for this distinctive Chinese approach to addressing ethnic issues. The new law, together with the Law on Regional Ethnic Autonomy, provides the legal framework for fostering a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation.

Yet, constrained by long-standing prejudice, some groups and politicians in Western countries have distorted the human rights and legal mechanisms established by the Ethnic Unity and Progress Promotion Law. They claimed that it promotes "forced assimilation," or ignores the human rights objectives set by the law, portraying it as a tool for the "systematic repression" of ethnic minorities and religious communities. 

There are three main reasons behind such narratives. First, driven by strategic competition, some seek to deliberately discredit China's ethnic policies and its law-based governance of ethnic affairs in an attempt to disrupt China's peaceful development. Second, some Western individuals, masquerading as defenders of human rights, continuously fabricate and exaggerate so-called human rights issues in China's Xinjiang and Xizang regions to accumulate political capital and reap the rewards of political opportunism. Likewise, certain think tanks, research institutions and individuals use attacks on China's ethnic policies and governance as a means of securing political patronage and financial support. Third, many Western observers remain constrained by the limitations of traditional theories and narratives surrounding concepts such as the "nation." As a result, they struggle to grasp the legal and conceptual meaning of the Chinese nation as a civic-national community or to understand the governance logic of a unified multi-ethnic state.

Regardless of the motives behind these criticisms, they cannot negate the human rights values embodied in the Ethnic Unity and Progress Promotion Law. The law is not intended to impose forced assimilation or standardized identities. Rather, it seeks to promote unity, progress and shared prosperity while respecting the diversity of China's ethnic groups. Article 6 explicitly stipulates that "the state is to persist in promoting commonality while respecting and embracing differences," establishing this as a fundamental legislative principle.

To protect diversity, particularly cultural diversity, the law further reiterates that "the state respects and protects the learning and use of minority languages and scripts, promotes the regulation, standardization, and digitalization of minority languages, and supports the protection, organization, research and use of old ethnic minority books." These provisions constitute a powerful legal rebuttal to claims by some Western countries that the law represents a form of "cultural genocide." Likewise, Western media assertions that the law seeks to "Sinicize" China's ethnic minorities reflect a fundamental misunderstanding rooted in their narrow and traditional conception of the nation-state. China's ethnic minority groups are themselves integral components of the Chinese nation. By reaffirming equal rights and other fundamental human rights for all ethnic minorities, the law reinforces the essential objective of fostering a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation.

The enactment and implementation of China's Ethnic Unity and Progress Promotion Law is not a threat to global human rights. On the contrary, it contributes to the development of the international human rights cause. China is an important anchor of global peace, and its unity, stability and solidarity are closely linked to the sustainable advancement of human rights worldwide. Moreover, by modernizing the governance of ethnic affairs within the framework of the rule of law, China offers valuable experience and an alternative approach for the human rights governance of other multi-ethnic countries. If Western countries genuinely care about global human rights governance, they should recognize the positive principles and values embodied in China's Ethnic Unity and Progress Promotion Law.

The author is executive vice dean and professor of the Institute for National Security and Human Rights of Guangdong University of Technology. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn