Zhang Yi, a prominent pro-democracy activist, was formally placed in detention July 28 on suspicion of “inciting separatism” under China’s new Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity & Progress, which came into effect on the first of the month. The law states its aim as promoting “a strong sense of community” among Chinese people. Article 2 of the law dictates that this must be achieved by “upholding” the Chinese Communist Party’s leadership. Other articles aim to establish homogeneity in respect of culture, religion, language and written script. Critics contend that the legislation serves as a sweeping legal tool to impose forced assimilation and eliminate the distinct cultural identities of minority populations.

Notably, Article 63 establishes that the law extends beyond China’s borders, allowing charges against those even outside of the mainland territory who create “ethnic division” within the People’s Republic. Rights groups have criticized this as another attempt to exercise extraterritorial jurisdiction over diaspora communities, causing them to live in fear of retaliation from the Chinese government.

Zhang Yi was initially detained July 1—the day the Ethnic Unity Law took effect—during a visit to Sera monastery outside Lhasa, the Tibetan capital. There, he showed a Tibetan worshiper a photograph of the Dalai Lama on his phone, in an attempt to non-verbally communicate that he needed a prayer mat. This exchange was overseen by plainclothes police, who arrested him as he left the prayer room.

Prior to the law’s enactment, multiple rights groups warned of its far-reaching implications, stating that it puts activists at risk of persecution. Rights organization also criticized the “broad and undefined” nature of prohibitions on acts that “undermine ethnic unity or create ethnic division,” warning of the potential for arbitrary detentions.

According to rights group Tibet Watch, there have been at several detentions related to expression of cultural or religious identity in Tibet over the past months, including the enforced disappearance of two monks. The group warned of a heightened “pattern of oppression” against Tibetans.

Tibet has been under Chinese rule since 1951, with the ratification of the Seventeen Point Agreement between Lhasa and Beijing. However, many legal scholars and rights groups argue that the agreement was signed by the Lhasa government under duress, and that Tibet legally remains “an independent state” under Chinese occupation.

Rights groups say that China’s ongoing repression of the Tibetan community extends far beyond systematically erasing Tibetan culture from history textbooks and forcing young Tibetan children into state-run residential schools. The government has also sought to extend political control over the community by detaining and hiding the 11th Panchen Lama, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, since 1995—apparently to set a precedent for control the selection of the next Dalai Lama.

The Panchen Lama is the second-highest authority in Tibetan Buddhism. By replacing the indigenously chosen Panchen Lama with a state-vetted proxy, Beijing has sought to permanently subordinate the religion to Communist Party rule, rights advocates say.

From JURIST, Aug. 6. Used with permission. Internal links added.

See our last report on the “Ethnic Unity Law.”

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

The new legislation imposes Mandarin language dominance in public life and education across all regions of the People’s Republic. Article 15(3) of the law requires that “if it is necessary to issue documents in minority languages and scripts,” the documents must be accompanied by Mandarin versions, with clear indication that “the national common language” is given “prominence.”

Furthermore, the law introduces mandatory requirements in education, for families and home life as well as schools. Article 12 instructs authorities to “organize education” to ensure “correct views of the state, of history, of the nation, of culture and of religion.” Article 20(2) creates legal obligations for parents to educate minors to “love the Chinese Communist Party.”

Maya Wang, associate Asia director at HRW, noted concerns regarding the new law:

The Chinese government’s draft law on promoting ethnic unity seeks to mobilize the bureaucracy and society to unite people under Chinese Communist Party leadership at the expense of human rights… Tibetans, Uyghurs, and others who speak out for minority populations can expect even greater government repression.

The proposed legislation, entitled the Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity & Progress, was submitted to the National People’s Congress on Sept. 8. The law would fundamentally alter China’s legal framework for minority rights. China currently observes a 1984 statute called the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Regional National Autonomy, which guarantees minorities the right to “use and develop their own spoken and written languages and their freedom to preserve or reform their own folkways and customs.” The new law would effectively overturn the 1984 statute.

Particularly concerning is the new law’s extraterritorial reach. Article 61 establishes legal penalties for “organizations and individuals outside the territory of the People’s Republic of China” that “undermine national unity.” HRW warned that the provision formalizes China’s “transnational repression” practices under domestic law. The vague terminology used in the provision may enable arbitrary enforcement against peaceful expressions of cultural identity even for those outside China’s borders.

HRW called for international pressure to prevent the law’s passage, arguing it would codify systematic oppression of ethnic minorities while expanding China’s authority to suppress dissent globally.

From JURIST, Sept. 29. Used with permission. Internal links added.

Photo of Uyghur family in Kashgar: Todenhoff/Flickr

Zhang is accused of violating Article 103 of China’s criminal code, which states:

For organizing, plotting, or carrying out any activity to split the country and undermine national unity, the ringleaders or those whose crimes are grave shall be sentenced to life imprisonment or fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 10 years; active participants shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 3 years but not more than 10 years; and other participants shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than 3 years, short-term custody, non-custodial correction, or deprivation of political rights.

It is yet to be determined if she will be deemed a “ringleader,” wihch could mean life imprisonment.

Jiang Tianyong, a Chinese human rights lawyer who has aided Zhang, was detained on Sept. 16 while traveling to provide legal assistance in the case.

From JURIST, Sept. 23. Used with permission.

See our last reports on the crackdown on dissent in  China, and efforts at Han-Tibetan solidarity.

Photo: Tibetan Review

Sengdra has appealed three times for a retrial without success to the Supreme People’s Court in Xi’an, and after the last such filing his lawyer was warned not to return under threat of being disbarred. (SFT, Phayul, Tibet Watch, CounterVortex on the scene in Manhattan)

Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture is named for the Golok nomadic people of Amdo region, who have faced forced labor and resettlement, which their leaders charge is aimed at cultural extermination.

Photo: CounterVortex

Brooks charged that China has long sought to control the selection of the future Dalai Lama through the establishment of national regulations that restrict Tibetans’ right to freedom of religion and violate Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. She especially criticized the Measures on the Management of Reincarnation of Living Buddhas, and accused Chinese authorities of being responsible for the 1995 forced disappearance of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the 11th Panchen Lama.

The Measures on the Management of the Reincarnation of Living Buddhas is a national Chinese law approved in 2007 that officially recognized the Buddhist reincarnation system, a method of succession in Tibetan tradition. This marked the culmination of a long history of attempts to legislate the reincarnation of living Buddhas dating back to the 18th century. The law outlines rules and procedures governing the succession of Living Buddhas. Article 9 specifies that the reincarnation of Living Buddhas must be approved by various central government departments, such as the State Administration for Religious Affairs and the State Council.

Amnesty International’s statement follows the current 14th Dalai Lama’s announcement that his successor will be reincarnated and that the Gaden Phodrang Trust is the only entity authorized to recognize his future reincarnation. In response, the Chinese government insisted that the reincarnation of the Tibetan Buddhist leader must be chosen by drawing lots from a golden urn and receive approval from the central government, in accordance with what it calls long-standing historical conventions.

Tibet has been an incorporated region of the People’s Republic of China since 1951, but an independence movement has emerged among the Tibetan diaspora, advocating for separation from China.

The European Union and the United States have expressed concern over charges of human rights violations committed by Chinese authorities against Tibetans. In 2024, the US president signed a bill recognizing Tibet’s religious, cultural and historical identity separate from that of the Chinese people. In response, the Chinese Foreign Ministry stated that the bill constituted interference in China’s internal affairs and violated the basic norms governing international relations.

In March 2025, the Chinese government published its own report on the human rights situation in Tibet, boasting major improvements in the region related to social and political rights, as well as religious freedom. In the same report, the government emphasized that protecting human rights requires maintaining security and national unity, asserting that it has made significant efforts to strengthen solidarity among all ethnic groups to counter separatist activities that threaten national security.

From JURIST, July 2. Used with permission.

Notes: The Dalai Lama stepped down as leader of the Tibetan exile government in 2011, while remaining spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, effectively instating a secular transition. In the surreal “reincarnation wars” between Beijing and the Tibetan exile government in Dharamshala, India, it is the officially atheist Chinese state that is appealing to Buddhist fundamentalism, while the Dalai Lama is moving toward modernity and now says he embraces Marxism.

Image via Facebook

The 65th anniversary of Tibetan Uprising Day immediately follows Tibetan protests against plans to flood ancestral lands for mega-hydro development to power the cities and industrial zones of China’s east—a clear parallel to the struggle of the Cree and Inuit indigenous peoples of the Canadian north to defend their territories from mega-hydro schemes to power the megalopoli of the US Northeast. The illegal Chinese occupation of Tibet since 1959 also has a clear parallel in the illegal Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories since 1967. Yet the Tibetan and Palestinian leadership have long been pitted against each other in the Great Power game. In a significant sign of hope, Students for a Free Tibet responded to the criminal bombardment of Gaza by issuing a statement in solidarity with the Palestinians, and some leading figures in the Tibetan exile community have drawn the connection between the two peoples’ struggles. Bill Weinberg explores in Episode 217 of the CounterVortex podcast.

Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon

Production by Chris Rywalt

We ask listeners to donate just $1 per weekly podcast via Patreon—or $2 for our special offer, or $5 to become a Major Rant Enabler. We now have 59 subscribers. If you appreciate our work, please become Number 60!

Photo: Central Tibetan Administration

Tensions began Feb. 20, when teams of county officials and police arrived at two monasteries in Wontoe township in preparation for their demolition to make way for construction of the Kamtok dam. Wontoe monastery and Yena monastery in nearby Shiba village are cultural landmarks believed to date back over 700 years, and the mural paintings in the monasteries have historical importance. Monks and local residents, including the bursar of Wontoe monastery, gathered at the scene and peacefully appealed to the authorities for dialogue. The following day, the police detained up to 1,000 who were thought to have taken part in the gathering. Informants told Radio Free Asia that the police told detainees to bring food and bedding from home, indicating that their detention would be long. Community members who visited the detention centers to appeal for the detainees’ release were themselves detained.

The Kamtok dam is the sixth in a proposed series of 13 on the Dri Chu River, known as the Jinsha or Upper Yangtze in Chinese. They are being built as part of the West-East Electricity Transmission Project, to supply power to industrial cities in eastern China. (TCHRD, RFA, HRW, ICT)

Map: Wikipedia

Production by Chris Rywalt

We ask listeners to donate just $1 per weekly podcast via Patreon—or $2 for our special offer! We now have 57 subscribers. If you appreciate our work, please become Number 58!

Map: CIA via Wikipedia

In a statement Aug. 29, Secretary of State Antony Blinken conveyed concerns over what he termed “coercive” strategies that erode Tibet’s distinct linguistic, cultural, and religious traditions, especially among younger Tibetans:

We call on PRC authorities to halt the compulsory enrollment of Tibetan children into government-controlled boarding schools and to desist from stringent assimilation methods, both within Tibet and in other PRC territories. We stand steadfast in our endeavor to work alongside international allies and partners, drawing attention to these practices and advocating for accountability.

In 2021, a policy pivot in Beijing’s approach to educating children from minority peoples became evident with the release of the National Program for Child Development (2021-2030). The earlier policy document on the question emphasized the need to “respect and protect the rights of children of ethnic minorities to be educated in their own language.” However, this phrase was omitted in the updated version, with the emphasis instead on “promoting the common national language.” This alteration suggests a shift toward a more centralized program of Mandarin-language instruction for ethnic minority students.

The People’s Republic of China has 56 recognized ethnic groups, altough the Han Chinese constitute the overwhelming majority.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin firmly objected to the US sanctions, explaining the need for Tibet’s boarding schools by pointing to the region’s vast landscape and dispersed population. He stressed that students are free to return home during weekends, holidays, and traditional Tibetan festivals. Wang dismissed allegations of “forced assimilation” as baseless.

Amid these tensions, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo prepared to visit Beijing and Shanghai for dialogue with senior PRC officials and US business leaders.

From Jurist, Aug. 27. Used with permission.

Photo: GerdEichmann/Wikimedia Commons

The spark was a Nov. 24 apartment block fire in Urumqi that killed at least 10 people who were under lockdown orders and apparently unable to flee. Protests immediately broke out in Urumqi, capital of western Xinjiang region. Local authorities responded by easing restrictions there, but the protests then spread to China’s heartland. (PBS, BBC News, BBC News, Amnesty International, Al Jazeera)

Hong Kong-based Borderless Movement left-dissident website has issued a list of “Demands from Chinese and Hong Kong Socialists” in response to the outburst. These include an end to lockdowns and forced testing, provision of options for multiple vaccines (beyond the dubiously effective CoronaVac and Sinopharm), the right to citizen and worker self-organization, and abolition of oppressive labor practices like the so-called 996 work schedule. The statement ends with a call for “marginalized groups in the mainland and abroad, including Hongkongers, Taiwanese, Uyghurs and Tibetans to continue building a long-term strategic program for democratic struggle in China.” (Lausan Collective)

Oct. 26 saw anti-lockdown protests in the Tibetan capital Lhasa, bringing together both Han Chinese and ethnic Tibetans. The protests first broke out among migrant workers who demanded to be allowed to return to their homes after three months on lockdown in Tibet. (PRI, BBC News, RFA, Phayul)

In recent weeks, disturbing reports have emerged of massive “quarantine camps” being built in cities including Guangzhou and Beijing. (India Today, Bloomberg, PBS)

The sudden protest wave, unprecedented in 30 years, comes a month after Xi Jinping consolidated his personal dictatorship at the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party.

Photo of student protest in Nanjing via Twitter