Officials in Taiwan are raising concerns that Beijing’s recently enacted ethnic unity legislation may provide Chinese authorities with expanded legal authority to pursue Taiwanese individuals they classify as separatists, according to warnings issued Thursday.
The legislation, which China’s parliament approved this week, is designed to foster a unified national identity among the nation’s 55 minority ethnic communities, including Tibetans and Uyghurs. While Taiwan isn’t specifically referenced in most of the law’s text, it does include a provision encouraging residents on both sides of the Taiwan Strait to embrace Chinese identity.
Beijing already maintains existing statutes targeting supporters of Taiwanese independence, including 2024 guidelines that impose severe penalties on what it terms “diehard” activists – potentially including capital punishment – despite having no legal authority over the island.
The new statute mandates that Chinese citizens “shall protect the country’s sovereignty” and references President Xi Jinping’s declaration that all citizens must “consciously uphold national unity, national security, and social stability.”
Deputy Minister Shen Yu-chung of Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council addressed reporters in Taipei before the law’s passage, warning that such provisions could “spill over into becoming a legal basis for handling cross-Strait issues.”
When questioned about whether Beijing might use the legislation to target independence advocates, Shen responded: “It is highly possible.”
“How exactly one is supposed to promote unification or promote unity is left vague and hollow, but the punishments are concrete,” Shen added.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office declined to provide comment on the matter.
Taiwan has consistently criticized what its government describes as Chinese “lawfare” – Beijing’s practice of enacting legislation to justify targeting perceived separatists, including those living abroad.
The new statute contains provisions stating that individuals and organizations outside China’s borders may face legal consequences for undermining “ethnic unity and progress or inciting ethnic separatism.”
“Many of the Chinese communists’ actions are nominally presented as measures for maintaining domestic stability, but in reality they could also be transformed into long-arm jurisdiction,” Shen explained, referencing Beijing’s attempts to enforce its laws internationally.
According to Taiwanese officials, this legislation represents a tactical evolution from Beijing’s previous approach. Rather than simply opposing specific ideologies like Taiwan independence, the new law threatens punishment for those who fail to actively promote Chinese unity.
“In the past, you’d be punished for supporting Taiwan independence. Now, you also have to actively support unification, or you’ll get into trouble as well,” explained a senior Taiwanese official who requested anonymity due to the matter’s sensitivity.
