China set to pass new ethnic minority law, prioritise use of Mandarin language

It is due to be passed at the closing session of the annual meeting of the National People’s Congress, China’s legislature. - Photo: Reuters

BEIJING: China is expected to pass a law on a "shared" national identity among the country's 55 ethnic minority groups on Thursday (March 12), a move critics say will further erode the identity of people who are not majority Han Chinese and risk making anyone challenging that "unity" a separatist punishable by law.

Called "Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress", the ethnic minority law aims to forge national unity and advance the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) at its core, a draft copy of the law showed.