For years, Chinese leader Xi Jinping has pushed ethnic minority groups like Tibetans and Uyghurs to adopt an identity rooted in Chinese nationality and allegiance to the ruling Communist Party.

Now, that push has been codified into a sweeping new law that reaches into classrooms, neighborhoods and homes – and gives Beijing the right to target people outside of its borders that it believes violate its rules.

The statute, officially known as the Ethnic Unity and Progress Promotion Law, came into effect on July 1. It bans acts that “undermine ethnic unity or create ethnic division” among China’s 56 officially recognized ethnicities, which include a Han Chinese majority that makes up over 90% of the country’s 1.4 billion people.

  • jpreston2005@lemmy.worldEnglish
    114·
    15 hours ago

    While the text of the law doesn’t seem especially egregious, we’ll have to wait and see how it is enforced. The treatment of minorities by China in the past has been fraught with… well imprisonment, torture, and erasure of their communities. Kind of like the US and Canada, but worse and on a bigger scale.

    Probably just more of the same, honestly. My biggest concern is this:

    and gives Beijing the right to target people outside of its borders that it believes violate its rules.

    So, uh, any Chinese national, anywhere in the world, does something they don’t like, they come after you? yeeeeeeah, that’s gonna be a No from me, dog.

    • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      710·
      14 hours ago

      Kind of like the US and Canada, but worse

      Not one to defend China, but how is it worse than what happened to the natives of North America? At least up until this point, China hasn’t been outright eradicating entire ethnic groups.

      They’ve been going more with the cultural eradication route. Still really bad.

        • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
          71·
          12 hours ago

          Yes. Literally the cultural eradication that I was talking about.

          Really bad. But have you ever actually read about what the Europeans did to native populations? Dark shit, dude… Enough to make you completely lose faith in humanity for the rest of your life.

        • Nonconfrontational@lemmy.mlEnglish
          71·
          13 hours ago

          Ah yes, the BBC, which still denies there is a genocide in Gaza. Always trustworthy on genocide, the BBC.

          • Tiral@lemmy.worldEnglish
            32·
            11 hours ago

            So, because they linked one of the news sites you don’t like, it must be suspect. Or you could look it yourself on one of 50 other sites to get the same info?

            • Nonconfrontational@lemmy.mlEnglish
              8·
              10 hours ago

              Or, you could go directly to the source and look at the UN’s investigations into the matter, or any number of international human rights organizations.

              Or you could literally buy a ticket to Xinjiangand go see for yourself. Despite journalists, reporters, and investigators being allowed into Xinjiang, we still have no evidence for genocide. And yet reporters and journalists are still not allowed into Gaza, yet we have overwhelming evidence of genocide.

              Just stop and think about that for a second. That’s not suspect to you?