Tenzin Nyidon
DHARAMSHALA, July 24: Senior Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Wang Huning has called for the full implementation of China’s newly enacted “Ethnic Unity and Progress Law” during a four-day inspection tour of Tibet, while also urging local authorities to deepen the Sinicisation of Tibetan Buddhism and strengthen social governance in line with Beijing’s assimilation agenda.
Wang, a member of the CCP’s seven-member Politburo Standing Committee and chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, visited Lhasa and Ngari Prefecture, an area bordering India and Nepal, from July 19 to 22. The visit comes just weeks after the Ethnic Unity and Progress Law came into force on 1 July, signalling Beijing’s determination to accelerate the implementation of legislation widely viewed as providing a legal basis for deeper assimilation, intensified ideological oversight, and expanded security governance across Tibet.
Throughout the visit, Wang reiterated Beijing’s longstanding governing principle that “to govern Tibet is foremost to stabilise Tibet.” He called on local authorities to preserve what he described as a political and social environment of unity and stability while ensuring the full implementation of the new ethnic unity legislation.
During a visit to a Tibetan Buddhist monastery, Wang renewed calls to “systematically promote the Sinicisation of religion,” stressing that Tibetan Buddhism must be further aligned with socialist values and the ideological priorities of the Chinese Communist Party.
“We must ensure the effective implementation of the Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress, improve the ability and level of governing ethnic affairs according to law, and promote the spirit of ethnic unity and progress in all areas of development. In accordance with the requirements of systematically promoting the Sinicisation of religion in our country and strengthening the rule of law in religious affairs, we must continuously guide Tibetan Buddhism to adapt to socialist society,” Wang said during the tour, according to Chinese state media.
State media also showed Wang examining a Ming dynasty imperial eulogy to the Buddhist canon, a historical artefact frequently invoked by Beijing to bolster its narrative that Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism have long been integral to successive Chinese dynasties and, by extension, the Chinese state.
Wang’s remarks come amid intensifying international criticism of China’s newly implemented ethnic unity law. In recent weeks, lawmakers and government representatives in the United States and the European Union have issued statements condemning the legislation, warning that it institutionalises forced assimilation under the guise of national unity and grants authorities sweeping powers to curb activities deemed harmful to “ethnic unity” or supportive of “separatism.”
Exile Tibetan leaders and advocacy groups have echoed those concerns, arguing that the law codifies assimilationist policies that threaten Tibet’s distinct cultural, linguistic, and religious identity while extending Beijing’s control over other non-Han regions. They contend that the legislation marks another significant step in China’s broader campaign to reshape Tibet and other occupied regions’ identities through legal, political, and ideological mechanisms.