China's new ethnic unity law

A new Chinese law on ethnic unity could give Beijing another legal basis to go after Taiwanese it views as separatists given language it contains on protecting China's sovereignty and security.



China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, already has laws and regulations against Taiwanese independence supporters, among them guidelines published in 2024 to punish "diehard" activists, including with the death penalty, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction on the island.



The new law, passed by China's largely rubber-stamp parliament on Thursday, aims to create a "shared" national identity among the country's 55 ethnic minority groups, which include Tibetans and Uyghurs.



It does not directly mention Taiwan, whose people Beijing considers Chinese citizens, apart from a brief mention of a need to encourage people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait to identify as being Chinese.