New rules aim to ensure ethnic equality in Xinjiang
Print Edition
NEW regulations designed to encourage ethnic solidarity and harmony in west China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region have been created after an exhaustive public consultation, local legislators said yesterday.
Xinjiang is home to 22 million people of more than 40 ethnic groups including Uygurs, Han, Kazaks, Mongols and Tajiks.
Introduced on January 1, the new law makes “promoting ethnic unity” one of the principal factors assessed in officials’ performance reports and explicitly bans differentiated treatment when providing public services.
“Public places such as hotels, restaurants, train and bus stations, airports and markets shall provide equal treatment of all ethnic groups. Region, nationality, religious belief or folk customs shall not be used as reasons to discriminate or refuse to provide service in these venues,” it said.
People committing such offenses will be fined up to 10,000 yuan (US$1,500) and may be subject to prosecution, it said.
Xinjiang has been convulsed by terrorist violence in recent years. Gerla Yisamudin, deputy chairman of the regional government, said that Xinjiang faces grave challenges in maintaining ethnic unity.
“Hostile forces are plotting to use Xinjiang’s ethnic issues to disintegrate the region, while separatists are joining together to infiltrate and sabotage. Problems in social and economic development have complicated the situation,” he said.
Yisamudin said the new regulations aim to “provide a legal framework to counter acts that harm ethnic unity and help maintain social stability.”
The law is expected to help form a more favorable environment to battle separatism by promoting solidarity, said Li Jianxin, an official in charge of legislative affairs at the standing committee of the regional people’s congress.
The regulations, which encompass 60 provisions, encourage ethnic and social unity, legislators said.
For example, they stipulate the role of parents and guardians in nurturing and raising the awareness of ethnic solidarity among children.
The proposed rules were discussed with 500 members of the public on 170 separate occasions, legislators said.
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