June 30, 2026
Mr. Smith of New Jersey (for himself and Mr. McGovern) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
Condemning the People’s Republic of China’s Law on the Promotion of Ethnic Unity and Progress and the Chinese Communist Party’s campaign of forced assimilation against ethnic and religious minorities.
Whereas, on March 12, 2026, the National People’s Congress adopted the Law on the Promotion of Ethnic Unity and Progress (Ethnic Unity Law), scheduled to take effect on July 1, 2026;
Whereas the People’s Republic of China officially recognizes 55 ethnic minority groups, including Tibetans, Uyghurs, Mongolians, Hui Muslims, Manchus, and other communities with distinct languages, religions, histories, and cultural traditions;
Whereas the law elevates Chinese Communist Party ideology, prioritizes Mandarin Chinese in education and public life, and advances a Party-defined national identity over minority language, religion, culture, and history;
Whereas the law’s vague prohibitions on acts deemed to harm ethnic unity risk criminalizing peaceful expression, religious practice, cultural preservation, minority-rights advocacy, scholarship, journalism, and dissent;
Whereas the law includes extraterritorial provisions that could be used to punish or intimidate persons in the United States for speech, advocacy, religious activity, scholarship, journalism, or cultural expression disfavored by the Chinese Communist Party;
Whereas the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China and the Regional Ethnic Autonomy Law purport to protect minority languages, customs, religious belief, and regional autonomy;
Whereas officials in Taiwan have warned that the law could be used to target expressions of Taiwanese identity, history, democratic self-government, or opposition to the Chinese Communist Party’s official historical narratives;
Whereas the Department of State determined in January 2021 that authorities of the People’s Republic of China, under the direction and control of the Chinese Communist Party, committed genocide and crimes against humanity against predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minority groups in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, also known as the Uyghur Region;
Whereas abuses in the Uyghur Region include mass arbitrary detention, forced labor, torture, coercive population-control measures, severe restrictions on religious practice, pervasive surveillance, and forced separation of children from families;
Whereas United Nations experts have warned that approximately one million Tibetan children have been affected by residential-school policies aimed at assimilating Tibetans culturally, religiously, and linguistically;
Whereas forced assimilation policies in Tibet, the Uyghur Region, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and other areas undermine the ability of families and communities to transmit language, faith, history, and cultural identity to future generations;
Whereas the Chinese Communist Party has interfered in Tibetan Buddhist religious life, including by asserting authority over the recognition, education, and succession of Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leaders;
Whereas the recognition and succession of the Dalai Lama and other Tibetan Buddhist leaders are religious matters that must be decided exclusively according to Tibetan Buddhist tradition and the wishes of the Tibetan Buddhist community;
Whereas the People’s Republic of China is a party to international treaties that impose obligations implicated by policies of forced assimilation, family separation, religious repression, torture, discrimination, and cultural erasure;
Whereas, on April 30, 2026, the European Parliament adopted a resolution condemning the Ethnic Unity Law, criticizing its extraterritorial provisions, urging sanctions, rejecting Chinese Communist Party interference in the succession of the Dalai Lama, calling for the release of political prisoners, and urging renewed United Nations scrutiny;
Whereas the Chinese Communist Party’s use of overseas coercion, intimidation, surveillance, and pressure against diaspora communities threatens the safety and freedoms of persons in the United States and undermines the rule of law; and
Whereas cultural erasure is not unity, atrocities are not progress, and coercion is not legitimate governance: Now, therefore, be it
That the House of Representatives—
(1)
condemns the People’s Republic of China’s Ethnic Unity Law and the Chinese Communist Party’s broader campaign of forced assimilation against Tibetans, Uyghurs, Mongolians, Hui Muslims, Manchus, and other ethnic and religious minorities;
(2)
condemns policies and institutions used to separate children from families, communities, languages, religions, and cultures, including coercive boarding-school and residential-school systems, orphanage placements, and other mechanisms of forced assimilation;
(3)
affirms that the recognition and succession of the Dalai Lama and other Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leaders are religious matters to be decided by Tibetan Buddhists, free from interference by the Government of the People’s Republic of China or the Chinese Communist Party;
(4)
urges the Government of the People’s Republic of China to engage, without preconditions, in substantive dialogue with representatives of the Dalai Lama or his representatives to address longstanding grievances of the Tibetan people;
(5)
supports continued advocacy for the release of political prisoners detained for peaceful advocacy, religious practice, scholarship, cultural preservation, or the exercise of fundamental rights, including Ilham Tohti, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, Hada, Rahile Dawut, Go Sherab Gyatso, and other Uyghur, Tibetan, Mongolian, Hui Muslim, Manchu, and Chinese prisoners of conscience;
(6)
urges the President, the Secretary of State, and the Secretary of the Treasury, as appropriate, to impose sanctions and visa restrictions, including under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, Executive Order 13818, any successor authority, and section 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, on officials and entities responsible for conceiving, implementing, financing, profiting from, or enforcing the Law on the Promotion of Ethnic Unity and Progress and related forced-assimilation policies;
(7)
urges the Secretary of State to coordinate with democratic allies and partners, including the European Union, Canada, Japan, Australia, and the United Kingdom, to monitor implementation of the Law on the Promotion of Ethnic Unity and Progress, document its effects on targeted communities, and respond to related transnational repression;
(8)
urges the Secretary of State to expand and prioritize programs that support endangered languages, religious traditions, oral histories, independent media, diaspora-led cultural education, documentation of cultural repression, preservation of cultural heritage, and local-language international broadcasting and public diplomacy messaging, for communities targeted by forced assimilation;
(9)
urges the Secretary of Homeland Security, in coordination with the Attorney General and other relevant Federal officials, to strengthen efforts to protect diaspora communities in the United States from harassment, threats, surveillance, coercion of relatives abroad, and attempts to silence lawful advocacy linked to the Law on the Promotion of Ethnic Unity and Progress;
(10)
urges the Secretary of State to use the voice, vote, and influence of the United States at the United Nations, including in the Security Council, to highlight the People’s Republic of China’s violations of international obligations, genocide in the Uyghur Region, and other severe violations of internationally-recognized human rights;
(11)
urges the Secretary of State to assess whether the treatment of Tibetans by the Government of the People’s Republic of China and the Chinese Communist Party, including coercive boarding-school policies, forced labor, separation of children from families and communities, severe restrictions on religious practice, and interference in Tibetan Buddhism, warrants a public atrocity-crimes determination; and
(12)
urges the Secretary of State to include detailed reporting on the Ethnic Unity Law and related forced-assimilation policies in the Department of State’s annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, International Religious Freedom Report, and Trafficking in Persons Report, as appropriate.