In step with China's implementation of the "ethnic unity and progress promotion law" (ethnic unity law), U.S. senators issued a bipartisan statement opposing it.
On the 2nd (local time), according to the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, nine members of the committee, including Chairperson Jim Risch (Republican–Idaho) and Commissioner Jeanne Shaheen (Democrat–New Hampshire), issued a joint statement opposing the ethnic unity law. In the statement, they said the Chinese Communist Party has for decades denied the right to national self-determination of ethnic minorities such as Tibetans, Uyghurs, and Mongols, and criticized the establishment of the ethnic unity law as an unjust policy aimed at eradicating the religions, cultures, and languages of minorities inside and outside China.
They expressed deep concern in particular about provisions that force ideological conformity to the Chinese Communist Party, noting that the law does nothing but grant China virtually unlimited authority to prosecute those who oppose repression and to help justify transnational repression. They also said they would continue to push back against the Chinese Communist Party's attempts to undermine other countries' sovereignty and would support the human rights of minorities such as Tibetans and Uyghurs.
Lawmakers from both the Republican and Democratic parties joined the statement on a bipartisan basis, including Lindsey Graham (Republican–South Carolina), a close ally of President Donald Trump. In the House, John Moolenaar (Republican–Michigan), Chairperson of the Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, Democratic Commissioner Ro Khanna (California), and Young Kim (Republican–California), Chairperson of the Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific, and the International Cybersecurity Policy, also joined.
Starting on the 1st, China began enforcing the ethnic unity law, which requires minorities to prioritize using the Chinese language and punishes acts of ethnic division. The law includes provisions that allow holding people legally responsible even outside China's borders if they undermine ethnic unity and development or incite ethnic division.