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Is China doubling down on assimilation of its ethnic minorities?
- Fewer cadres with ethnic minority backgrounds made it on to the Communist Party’s new Central Committee, marking a 10-year low
- New head of influential party department stressed importance of learning Mandarin when in charge of Inner Mongolia
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The appointment of ethnic minority officials and those charged with minority policies since the Communist Party’s five-yearly national congress in October suggest Beijing is doubling down on efforts to assimilate the diverse groups into one common Chinese identity, experts say.
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Those appointments saw the representation of ethnic minority officials on the party’s Central Committee hit a 10-year low, which experts said suggested ethnic diversity was not a priority for President Xi Jinping.
They also saw a new member of its 24-strong Politburo, 66-year-old Shi Taifeng, become head of the party’s United Front Work Department (UFWD), which plays a central role in its ethnic minority policies. His appointment gives the department its highest rank in the party system for decades.
“Under Xi’s leadership, the party isn’t trying to eliminate ethnic minorities and reward Han people,” said Aaron Glasserman, a researcher with Princeton University’s Centre on Contemporary China.
“It’s trying to eliminate distinctions between them and foster what it believes will be a politically useful and unified national identity.
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“It is essentially encouraging [ethnic minorities] to speak Mandarin, embrace a shared Chinese national identity, and above all, support Xi and his regime.”
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