On 1 July 2026, China’s Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress entered into force, giving legal form to one of Beijing’s most consequential approaches to governing a vast and complex multi-ethnic state. Much Western commentary has presented the legislation principally as a vehicle for assimilation and cultural erasure. That interpretation captures one area of legitimate debate, but it misses the broader strategic calculation behind the law. Beijing is attempting to institutionalise a proposition that has shaped its ethnic policy for years: diversity can remain a permanent feature of China without becoming a basis for political fragmentation. The new law therefore represents less a new beginning than the codification of a long-developing strategy built around national cohesion, economic integration, linguistic accessibility and territorial integrity.

China’s approach cannot be separated from its history. It is an ancient continental polity whose borders and population have evolved through centuries of political consolidation and interaction among different peoples. The country officially recognises 56 ethnic groups, with minority communities concentrated across extensive and strategically important frontier regions. Since 1949, Beijing has tried to reconcile this diversity with the needs of national reconstruction, first through regional ethnic autonomy and later through a stronger emphasis on a shared Chinese national identity.

By the twenty-first century, that balance faced significant pressures. Regional economic disparities, separatist movements, religious extremism and cross-border militant networks demonstrated how ethnic grievances could intersect with security threats. The 2009 Urumqi riots and subsequent terrorist attacks between 2013 and 2016 reinforced Beijing’s conviction that ethnic policy could not be separated from national security, development and social stability.

The 2026 law accordingly does not emerge from a vacuum. It translates earlier policies into a more comprehensive legal framework. Its provisions promote a shared sense of belonging to the Chinese nation,........

© The Friday Times