China called on countries on Friday to “stop spreading lies” about the new ethnic unity law, after US lawmakers, the United Nations and rights groups warned it threatened minority freedoms.
The Law on the Promotion of Ethnic Unity and Progress came into effect on Wednesday and aims to create a “shared” national identity among ethnic groups, for example by strengthening the status of Mandarin as an official language.
But overseas activists have warned that it will degrade the rights of minorities, such as Tibetans and Uighurs, that Beijing is accused of persecuting.
They also point to a clause that says people can be held accountable for breaking the law even when outside China, saying it gives the Chinese government more justification to target its opponents abroad.
At a press conference on Friday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun accused “certain countries” of “sweeping generalizations (and) malicious smearing of China’s ethnic policies”.
“We call on the countries concerned to respect the basic facts, stop spreading lies and stop using so-called ethnic issues as a pretext for interfering in China’s internal affairs,” Guo said, without naming the countries.
Beijing consistently denies that it engages in rights abuses against any ethnic group and maintains that they all benefit from its domestic security and economic development policies.
Guo’s comments came after nine US lawmakers voiced strong opposition to the law, vowing in a statement to continue speaking out against Beijing’s attempt to “legitimize its transnational repression”.
UN rights chief Volker Turk has called for the law to be repealed, and Amnesty International has warned that it will “further institutionalize … policies of forced assimilation”.
Taiwan, the self-governing island of Beijing, has said the law will also expand “threats and intimidation against the people of our country and other nations”.
