This year's annual two sessions meetings in China are concluding, with the National People's Congress (NPC) scheduled to approve a new ethnic unity law on Thursday. The NPC, often described as a rubber-stamp parliament, has never rejected an item on its agenda, making the passage of this legislation all but certain.
Key Legislation on the Agenda
The NPC will vote on a suite of new laws, including the ethnic unity law, a new environmental code, and the 15th five-year plan for economic development from 2026 to 2030. Delegates have spent the past week debating these bills, which are expected to be approved without opposition.
Ethnic Unity Law Details
The ethnic unity law requires schools to use Mandarin by default, taking priority over minority ethnic languages such as Tibetan, Uyghur, and Mongolian. Additionally, it mandates that Mandarin be displayed more prominently than minority scripts on public signage. This move aligns with President Xi Jinping's policy of "sinicisation," aimed at assimilating ethnic minorities into the Han majority culture.
Recent reports from Inner Mongolia indicate that some public signs have already been renovated to emphasize Mandarin characters over Mongolian script, following protests in 2020 over language erosion. Yalkun Uluyol, a China researcher at Human Rights Watch, criticized the law as a "blatant move by Beijing to legalise forced assimilation and political control."
Environmental and Economic Measures
Alongside the ethnic unity law, the NPC is set to approve a new ecological and environmental code. This unified framework will replace various existing laws on pollution and environmental protection, supporting China's dual carbon goals of peaking emissions by 2030 and achieving net neutrality by 2060. Li Shuo of the Asia Society Policy Institute noted that this code represents a significant step forward in China's environmental legal system, signaling a long-term commitment to governance.
The NPC will also vote on the annual budget, government work report, and the 15th five-year plan, which includes a historically low GDP growth target of 4.5% for 2026, reflecting Beijing's shifting economic priorities.
Broader Implications
The ethnic unity law has been treated with particular importance by the Chinese Communist Party, with the full politburo discussing a draft in 2025 for the first time in four decades. This legislation underscores Beijing's efforts to centralize cultural and political control, raising concerns among human rights advocates about the erosion of minority rights and languages in China.
