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The United States and the European Union expressed concern on Thursday about China’s new law on ethnic unity that went into effect this week and gives Beijing the legal basis to take action against people outside its borders.
China passed the law in March to create a “shared” national identity among the country’s 55 ethnic minority groups, which include Tibetans and Uyghurs, some of whom chafe under Chinese governance and have often staged protests, some of them violent.
The law, which went into effect on Wednesday, includes a clause saying people and groups beyond the borders of the People’s Republic of China can be held legally accountable for undermining “ethnic unity and progress or inciting ethnic separatism.”
In a statement, an EU spokesperson said the law may further restrict the cultural, linguistic and religious rights of ethnic minorities.
Such rights should be upheld in line with international human rights standards and China’s commitments within the U.N. framework, the spokesperson added.
“We are concerned about the extraterritorial application of the law. The EU opposes the extraterritorial application of third-country legislation in breach of international law,” the spokesperson said.
