With robots, publicity events and official speeches, China is mounting a propaganda effort to promote and defend a new “ethnic unity” law that critics say will further undermine the rights of Tibetans, Uyghurs and other minorities in the country.

中国正在用机器人、宣传活动以及官方演讲发起一场政治宣传攻势，以推广并捍卫一部新的“民族团结”法律。批评人士指出，该法将进一步削弱国内藏族、维吾尔族及其他少数民族的权利。

The law grants sweeping powers to Beijing to pursue groups and people overseas seen as undermining national unity or inciting ethnic division. That has raised concerns that the Chinese authorities would accuse activists living abroad of crimes and seek their extradition or repatriation to China.

该法律赋予了北京方面广泛的权力，用以追究那些被认为破坏国家统一或煽动民族分裂的海外团体和个人。这引发了外界的担忧，即中国当局可能会指控居住在国外的活动人士犯罪，并寻求将他们引渡或遣返回中国。

Since the law went into effect on Wednesday, Tibetan and Uyghur activists have held demonstrations against it in Washington and Brussels. One Tibetan activist set himself on fire outside the United Nations headquarters in New York on Thursday and died. Human rights groups, Western governments and American lawmakers have issued statements criticizing the measure.

自该法于周三生效以来，藏族和维吾尔族活动人士已在华盛顿和布鲁塞尔举行了反对该法的示威游行。上周四，一名藏族活动人士在纽约联合国总部外自焚身亡。人权组织、西方政府以及美国国会议员纷纷发表声明，对这一举措提出批评。

China has pushed back aggressively against the criticism, which China’s vice minister of justice, Hu Weilie, has blamed on “distorted interpretations” by the Western media of the legislation. Mr. Hu said the law was “legitimate, legal, necessary,” and in line with international norms. On Friday, Guo Jiakun, a spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry, accused the United States and the European Union of “maliciously slandering” his country’s policies.

中国对这些批评进行了强硬回击。中国司法部副部长胡卫列将其归咎于西方媒体对该立法的“歪曲解读”。他表示，该法律是“正当合法、必要可行的”，且符合国际通例。周五，中国外交部发言人郭嘉昆指责美国和欧盟“恶意诋毁”中国的政策。

The rhetoric underscores how intolerant the Chinese Communist Party under President Xi Jinping has become of any criticism of its treatment of ethnic minorities. Under Mr. Xi, the party has imposed heavy crackdowns on such groups, particularly targeting the Tibetans, to erode the influence of the Dalai Lama in Tibet, and the Uyghurs, a Muslim minority in Xinjiang.

这些言论凸显出在国家主席习近平的领导下，中国共产党对任何针对其少数民族政策的批评变得多么不能容忍。在习近平任内，中共对这些群体实施了严厉的管控，特别是针对西藏的藏族人（以削弱达赖喇嘛在西藏的影响力）以及新疆的穆斯林少数民族维吾尔族人。

新疆阿勒泰地区的一处夜市。中国一直试图削弱该地区的文化与宗教遗产，并强行同化其穆斯林少数民族。

While the government says the new rules will protect the traditions of all 56 officially recognized ethnic groups, they appear to be mainly focused on assimilating minority groups into the culture of the Han Chinese, who are a majority in China.

尽管政府表示新规将保护所有56个官方承认的民族的传统，但它们似乎主要侧重于将少数民族群体融入在中国占人口多数的汉族文化之中。

An editorial in the state-run Global Times on Thursday accused “some Western countries and media outlets” of maligning China’s ethnic policies. “Their claims, detached from facts and shaped by prejudice, amount to nothing more than one-sided rhetoric,” it said.

官方媒体《环球时报》周四发表社论，指责“一些西方国家及媒体”诋毁中国的民族政策。社论称：“他们的说辞脱离事实、充满偏见，不过是一面之词。”

Officials in China held events meant to rally public support for the new law. On Wednesday, at least half a dozen Chinese cities held cultural performances and public discussions to promote the new law, according to state media reports. Such demonstrations are usually symbolic, intended to signal to the world that citizens across the country are united behind a national policy.

中国官方举行了旨在争取公众支持新法的活动。据官方媒体报道，周三，至少有六个中国城市举行了文化表演和公开讨论来推广新法。此类展示通常具有象征意义，旨在向外界表明全国各地的公民都团结一致支持国家政策。

With tight censorship online, it is hard to see how ordinary Chinese perceive the new law. But such measures have set off unrest in the past. In Inner Mongolia, restrictions on the use of Mongolian in local schools prompted widespread protests in 2020. This week, local officials invited Communist Party cadres and residents to play tug of war and skip rope in the name of ethnic unity.

鉴于网络审查严格，很难了解普通中国民众如何看待这部新法。但此类举措在过去曾引发过不安。在内蒙古，由于官方限制当地学校使用蒙古语，2020年曾发生过大规模抗议。本周，当地官员以民族团结的名义邀请党政干部和居民开展了拔河和跳绳比赛。

In Chengxi District of Qinghai Province, home to the Hui, a Muslim ethnic group, a robot answered questions about the law. A video showed the robot clapping next to a sign that called for “a shared future characterized by blood ties, shared beliefs, cultural affinity, economic interdependence and emotional closeness.” In June, several counties in Xinjiang held competitions where cadres were tested on their knowledge of the new law.

在回族（一个穆斯林少数民族）聚居的青海省西宁市城西区，一个机器人现场解答了关于该法律的提问。视频显示，该机器人坐在一块标语牌旁鼓掌，标语牌上写着呼吁建设“血脉相融、信念相同、文化相通、经济相依、情感相亲的命运共同体”。今年6月，新疆数个县还举行了竞赛，对干部掌握新法知识的情况进行了测试。

The law bans any acts that “undermine ethnic unity or create ethnic divisions” among Chinese people inside or outside of China and requires all of Chinese society to participate in the mission of ethnic integration. It mandates Mandarin Chinese as the language of instruction in schools and in official communication and orders parents to “educate and guide children to love the Chinese Communist Party.”

该法禁止任何在国内外中国人中“破坏民族团结和制造民族分裂”的行为，并要求全中国社会共同参与到民族融合的使命中。它规定国家通用语言文字（普通话）为学校教学和官方交往的规范用语，并要求家长“教育和引导未成年人热爱中国共产党”。

去年在印度达兰萨拉附近，藏族人举行祈祷仪式庆祝达赖喇嘛90岁生日。而在中国，当局一直将藏族的精神生活作为管控目标，以削弱达赖喇嘛在西藏地区的影响力。

President Lai Ching-te of Taiwan, who said the ethnic unity law could be used to target Taiwanese citizens, called on the international community to oppose it. Taiwan is a self-governed island that China claims as its own.

台湾总统赖清德表示，该民族团结法可能会被用来针对台湾公民，并呼吁国际社会予以反对。台湾是一个自治岛屿，中国声称对其拥有主权。

In response, Zhu Fenglian, a spokeswoman for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, said on Thursday that the measure would help “pool the strength of all ethnic groups nationwide to advance the building of a strong country.”

对此，中国国台办发言人朱凤莲周四回应称，这一举措将有助于“为推动全国各族人民共同以中国式现代化全面推进强国建设、民族复兴伟业凝聚磅礴力量”。

Human rights groups have called for the law, which was passed at China’s annual legislative meeting in March, to be repealed. Volker Türk, the United Nations’ high commissioner for human rights, said last month that it “risks deepening restrictions on freedoms of language, education, practice of religion, culture, expression and assembly” of minorities in China.

人权组织呼吁废除这项于今年3月在中国年度立法会议上通过的法律。联合国人权事务高级专员沃尔克·图尔克上个月表示，该法“可能会加剧限制中国少数民族语言、教育、宗教信仰仪式、文化、表达及集会自由”。

In a letter to the Chinese government in April, eight human rights experts said the law could have “serious implications” for Tibetans, Uyghurs and Mongolians.

在今年4月致中国政府的一封信中，八位人权专家表示，该法可能会对藏族、维吾尔族和蒙古族人产生“严重影响”。

The law embodies Mr. Xi’s goal to forge a single national identity molded by the Communist Party. It is also part of his campaign to tighten his control over Xinjiang and Tibet, where demands for greater autonomy have in the past erupted into violence.

这部法律体现了习近平旨在打造一个由共产党塑造的单一国家认同的目标。这也是他加强对新疆和西藏控制行动的一部分，这两个地区在过去曾因要求更大自治权的呼声而引发过冲突。

To assert its control, the Chinese government has conducted mass detentions of residents and forced political indoctrination, separated children from their families and suppressed of population growth. Those measures have led to the erasure of minority languages, religious traditions and cultural norms.

为了确立控制，中国政府对当地居民进行了大规模拘禁并强制实施政治灌输，将儿童与家庭分离，并压制人口增长。这些举措导致了少数民族语言、宗教传统和文化规范的消解。