Tenzin Nyidon
DHARAMSHALA, July 2: Germany’s Federal Foreign Office and the UK’s All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Tibet have voiced strong concerns over China’s controversial Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress, warning that the legislation institutionalises forced assimilation, erodes the rights of ethnic minorities, and expands Beijing’s capacity for transnational repression targeting individuals and organisations beyond China’s borders.
The law, which came into force on Wednesday, has drawn mounting international criticism from governments, parliamentarians, and rights advocates who argue that it provides a legal framework to deepen Beijing’s assimilation policies in Tibet, East Turkestan (Xinjiang), Southern Mongolia, and other minority regions while extending its reach to diaspora communities overseas.
During a regular federal government press conference on June 29, German Federal Foreign Office spokesperson Sebastian Hinterseher said Berlin viewed both the law’s passage by China’s National People’s Congress in March and its implementation on July 1 “with great concern.”
Responding to questions over whether the legislation could affect individuals in Germany, Hinterseher said the German government consistently raises human rights concerns with Beijing at all levels, including over what China calls the Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress.
He warned that the legislation creates an expanded legal basis for China’s existing minority policies, particularly what Berlin described as the planned Sinicisation of religion. According to the Foreign Office, the law risks further weakening minority-language education while undermining fundamental freedoms, including freedom of religion.
The German government also expressed particular concern over provisions allowing Chinese authorities to pursue individuals and organisations outside China’s borders. Hinterseher said the broadly worded provisions could facilitate transnational repression and reaffirmed that Germany “resolutely opposes any form of transnational repression, regardless of its origin.”
Germany’s remarks come weeks after the Central Tibetan Administration President Penpa Tsering’s official visit to the country from June 11 to 14, during which he met parliamentarians, senior government officials and civil society representatives in Berlin and Frankfurt to highlight China’s escalating repression in Tibet. During the visit, the Tibetan political leader warned that Beijing’s systematic assimilation policies targeting Tibetan language, religion, and cultural identity were increasingly being accompanied by efforts to intimidate and silence Tibetan communities abroad. Discussions with German officials also addressed international efforts toward a peaceful resolution of the Tibetan issue.
The CTA has since launched a global diplomatic campaign urging governments, foreign ministries, parliamentarians, think tanks and non-governmental organisations to press China to repeal the legislation.
Echoing similar concerns, the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group on Tibet issued a statement on June 30 condemning the legislation as “a dangerous legal instrument” that entrenches Beijing’s policy of forced assimilation despite its conciliatory title. The statement was signed by Chris Law MP, Chair of the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group on Tibet, one day before the legislation formally came into force.
The parliamentary group said the law threatens Tibetans, Uyghurs, Southern Mongolians and other ethnic nationalities by accelerating compulsory Mandarin-language education, expanding surveillance, enabling demographic engineering and tightening ideological control, thereby placing their languages, cultures, religions and identities at greater risk.
Referring to the Central Tibetan Administration’s assessment, the APPG said the legislation “acts as a death blow to the original constitutional promise of meaningful regional autonomy” for Tibetans.
The group also warned that Article 63 of the law establishes a legal basis for Chinese authorities to target individuals and organisations overseas accused of “undermining ethnic unity,” raising serious concerns for Tibetans, researchers, human rights defenders, parliamentarians, and others in the United Kingdom exercising their fundamental freedoms.
Calling for an international response, the APPG urged the UK government to formally register its opposition with Beijing, reject implementation of the law, strengthen cooperation with democratic partners to counter transnational repression, and press for the legislation’s repeal in accordance with international human rights standards and the principles of democracy, freedom, and the rule of law.
