Concerns China’s new ethnic unity law could put Australian citizens at risk

The Australian government says it has raised concerns directly with China over the country’s new ethnic unity law, which allows Beijing to target people overseas. China’s Ethnic Unity and Progress Promotion law, which comes into effect next week, is designed to create a “shared” national identity among the country’s 55 ethnic minority groups, including Tibetans and Uyghurs. It formalises longstanding policies to promote Mandarin as the language of education, official business and public space while criminalising “violent terrorist activities, ethnic separatist activities, or religious extremist activities”. But it also includes a clause that people and groups beyond the borders of…