Thirty-nine organisations representing Hong Kong, Tibetan, Uyghur, Taiwanese and other diaspora communities in Australia and around the world have issued a joint statement rejecting and strongly condemning China’s new ethnic unity law.
China’s Ethnic Unity and Progress Promotion law, which came into effect on July 1, is designed to create a “shared” national identity among the country’s 55 ethnic minority groups
Tibetans around the world have responded in different ways to protest against the law.
In Melbourne, activists staged a 24-hour hunger strike earlier this month.
Last weekend, Tibetan activists protested outside the Chinese embassy in Canberra, calling on the Australian government to take stronger action and paying tribute to Tibetan activist Lobga Rangzen.
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It also allows Beijing to target people overseas.
Richard Lue, founder of the Western Australian Association for Pan-Asian Democracy and a co-organiser of the statement, told the ABC the legislation could affect human rights advocates “no matter where they are, including those in Australia”.
“This law institutionalises forced assimilation within China while extending Beijing’s authoritarian reach beyond its borders,” said the joint statement published on social media on Wednesday.
“We stand together in global solidarity to warn the international community of this grave escalation.”
Just a day after the law came into force, Lobga Rangzen set himself on fire outside the United Nations headquarters in New York after he reportedly made a live appeal for Tibetan independence and unity.
He died in hospital later that day.
