China Power | Society | East Asia

Xi Jinping Just Made It a Crime to Be Taiwanese

China’s attack on Taiwan has already started – with the Ethnic Unity Law as a weapon.

Flags representing the Republic of China and an independent Taiwan fly together during a protest rally in Taipei, Taiwan, Apr. 19, 2025.

On September 3, 2025, Xi Jinping held a military parade in Tiananmen Square to mark the 80th anniversary of China’s victory over Japan in World War II. The display was deliberate in every detail, from the advanced weapons systems to the leaders of multiple authoritarian states in attendance, Russia and North Korea among them. The scale of the parade was rare, even for Xi. It was a signal of authority to the military, a performance of legitimacy for the public. But it was not his only weapon.

A week after the parade, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress began deliberating the “Law of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] on the Promotion of Ethnic Unity.” The law treats Taiwanese people as citizens of the PRC. Article 21 mandates that the Chinese Communist Party work to “strengthen the sense of belonging, identification, and honor of Taiwan compatriots toward the Chinese nation,” to “promote the joint inheritance and promotion of Chinese culture by compatriots on both sides of the strait,” and to deepen the recognition that both sides “belong to Chinese culture” and are both “Chinese people.” 

The law includes a reporting mechanism: any individual can be reported and prosecuted. Any Taiwanese person who does not identify as Chinese is, under its terms, committing a crime subject to criminal liability. 

The law passed in March 2026 and takes effect on July 1. Starting tomorrow, it will be one of Xi’s weapons against Taiwan.

In Taiwan, what was once a matter of personal national identity will become the target of public prosecution. And the vast majority of Taiwanese are guilty of this “thought crime.” According to polling conducted across multiple firms, roughly two-thirds of Taiwan’s population identify primarily as Taiwanese. Fewer than 3 percent primarily see themselves as Chinese. Among younger Taiwanese, those aged 18-34, the gap is even wider: over 80 percent identify as primarily Taiwanese; just one percent as primarily Chinese.

This is not a surprise. Among Taiwan’s 23 million people, roughly 600,000 are indigenous, Polynesian peoples entirely distinct from China’s Han majority in language, culture, society, and belief. More than a million are new residents, originally from Vietnam, Indonesia, Japan, Hong Kong, Macau, and parts of mainland China; they and their descendants constitute what many regard as a new cultural wave in Taiwan. There are those who came to Taiwan with Chiang Kai-shek after 1949, some of whom retain deep feelings for China. 

Taiwan’s largest population group consists of people whose ancestors migrated from coastal southeastern China roughly 400 years ago, who have long since developed distinct cultures, and identities. Their ancestors came from China. That does not mean they still identify as Chinese, any more than Americans whose ancestors came from England, Germany, or the Netherlands still call themselves British, German, or Dutch. 

This diversity is what makes Taiwan distinct from China, and it is the strongest argument for Taiwan’s right to self-determination. It is precisely what blocks the CCP’s goal of unification, and precisely what the CCP fears most.

The law set to take effect on July 1 establishes something like a thought-police system, an invisible identity camp. Its definition of........

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