China Implements Law on Ethnic Unity, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Calls on International Community to Counter Authoritarian Expansion

(Central News Agency, Taipei, July 1) China's "Law on the Promotion of Ethnic Unity and Progress" took effect today. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly opposes China's implementation of this law, which it uses for long-arm jurisdiction and transnational suppression, and calls on the international community to jointly counter authoritarian expansion.

Starting today, China implements the "Law on the Promotion of Ethnic Unity and Progress," which asserts that the cause of ethnic unity must be led by the Communist Party of China and that overseas organizations and individuals can be held accountable.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a press release this afternoon stating that China, through the "Law on the Promotion of Ethnic Unity and Progress," attempts to conduct long-arm jurisdiction and transnational suppression through its domestic laws, expanding threats and intimidation against people of other countries, severely infringing upon the sovereignty and international human rights of various nations. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expresses strong condemnation and firm opposition to this.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs pointed out that the aforementioned law, in the form of domestic legislation, explicitly stipulates jurisdiction over overseas organizations and individuals in China, serving as the legal basis for China's expansion of long-arm jurisdiction and transnational suppression, posing a significant threat to global freedom, democracy, and human rights. In the future, individuals from various countries who engage in speech or actions unacceptable to China may become targets of this law or be subject to prosecution. The international community should jointly condemn China's actions of using its domestic law to implement authoritarian expansion once again.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs mentioned that furthermore, several provisions of the law are based on concepts such as "undermining ethnic unity," "creating ethnic separatism," and "being detrimental to ethnic unity and progress," which lack clear definitions. This grants Chinese law enforcement agencies arbitrary interpretive space, making it difficult for the public to discern risks, leading to self-censorship and creating a chilling effect, which severely contradicts the legal clarity and proportionality principles that a state governed by the rule of law should uphold.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterated that the Republic of China, Taiwan, is a sovereign and independent country, and it is not subordinate to the People's Republic of China. No domestic law of China has any binding force on Taiwan, nor does China have the right to frame Taiwanese citizens for crimes. As a democratic and free country, the people of Taiwan enjoy freedoms of speech and thought in accordance with the law, which China has no right to comment on or interfere with.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasized that when authoritarianism exports fear outwards, democratic countries must enhance their societal resilience; when authoritarian forces attempt to create division, like-minded partners should deepen their cooperation to jointly respond. Taiwan, as an important member of the democratic camp, will continue to strengthen its societal resilience through international cooperation to counter the Chinese government's transnational suppression. (Editor: Su Chih-tsung) 1150701

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