Editor's note: Bai Fan, a special commentator for CGTN, is an associate researcher at the Institute of Chinese Borderland Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

China's economic, social and demographic landscape has undergone historic transformations. Ethnic groups across the country now engage in extensive interaction, comprehensive exchange and deep integration on an unprecedented scale and depth. Against this backdrop, formulating legislation to promote ethnic unity and progress is an inevitable step grounded in China's national realities.

The draft law on promoting ethnic unity and progress was submitted to the fourth session of the 14th National People's Congress (NPC), the country's top legislature, for deliberation on March 5. As a foundational and comprehensive law in the field of China's ethnic affairs, it helps establish a sense of belonging among the Chinese nation, promotes exchanges, communication, and integration among various ethnic groups, and advances their common prosperity and development.

The draft law seeks not only to ensure that "all ethnic groups live together as close members of the big family of the Chinese nation, supporting one another in unity and harmony while pursuing shared development," but also to foster a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation and advance the development of the Chinese nation as one single community, thereby elevating the cause of ethnic unity and progress to new heights.

However, certain Western media outlets, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and scholars have adopted an arrogant posture, judging the draft law from the standpoint of Western interests. By stirring controversy, spreading negative narratives and attempting to smear China, they interfere in China's internal affairs.

Western distortions of China's draft law on promoting ethnic unity and progress are nothing new. At their core lies an attempt to evaluate the draft law through the lens of Western multiculturalism while lacking a basic understanding of the grand unified cultural tradition that underpins Chinese civilization. These critiques willfully ignore the law's fundamental objective of promoting harmony and solidarity among China's ethnic groups and instead fabricate accusations that it "disrespects minority rights."

Some self-proclaimed human rights NGOs assert that the draft law restricts minority-language rights and limits opportunities for mother-tongue education in regions such as the Xizang Autonomous Region, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. In reality, language serves as the fundamental medium of human communication. Through long historical interaction, China's national common language has become the shared cultural carrier of communication, exchanges and integration among various ethnic groups.

For ethnic minority citizens, mastering the national common language broadens access to education and employment while helping remove linguistic barriers between communities. In border areas such as Xizang, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia, expanded education in the national common language has contributed to poverty alleviation, improved social integration and increased opportunities for personal development.

Contrary to Western narratives that selectively ignore facts, the draft law on promoting ethnic unity and progress explicitly stipulates that "the country respects and guarantees the learning and use of the spoken and written languages of ethnic minorities, promotes their standardization, normalization and informatization, and supports the protection, collation, research and utilization of ancient documents of ethnic minorities."

In practice, the spoken and written languages of various ethnic minorities in regions like those mentioned above are widely used in education, justice, administration and public affairs.

Claims that the law seeks to "squash" China's 55 ethnic minority groups are not only factually unfounded but also inconsistent with international practice. One may reasonably ask: Which country in today's world does not legally designate an official language? Does establishing an official language inherently suppress the linguistic rights of non-official languages? If such logic were valid, virtually every country would face the same accusation. Clearly, these Western criticisms are nothing but fallacies.

Some Western media outlets and scholars further claim that the draft law on promoting ethnic unity and progress "institutionalizes ethnic assimilation," "erases the linguistic, cultural and religious diversity of ethnic minorities," "accelerates the decline of minority cultures" and "erases the culture and identity of ethnic minorities."

Such accusations reflect ignorance and arrogance rooted in Western-centrism. As one of the world's oldest continuous civilizations, China has practiced principles often summarized as "carriage wheels all have the same standard form and size; all writing is written with the same characters and in all the relations of life, all recognize the same established principles" for more than two millennia. These traditions helped shape the splendid Chinese civilization and represent a collective historical choice of all ethnic groups rather than a temporary political construct.

Western countries, lacking comparable historical experiences of long-term civilizational unity, attempt to interpret China's ethnic policies through the lens of their own fragmented historical experiences of cultural conflict – a futile approach when it comes to understanding China's reality.

Through long-standing exchanges, communication and integration, China's ethnic groups have jointly developed the country's vast territory, built a unified, multi-ethnic country, written its brilliant history, created its splendid culture and nurtured a shared national spirit.

In the process of Chinese modernization, the integration of outstanding traditional cultures with contemporary values in regions such as Xizang and Xinjiang has become increasingly dynamic. Cultural heritage elements, including Uyghur Muqam of Xinjiang, Manas, Meshrep, Tibetan Opera, the Gesar epic tradition and China's Lum medicinal bathing in Sowa Rigpa, have been inscribed on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Across Xinjiang, Xizang and other regions, diverse "culture plus" industries have emerged, fostering cultural professionals and expanding cultural sectors that meet the growing spiritual and cultural needs of people of all ethnic groups.

Meanwhile, the draft law on promoting ethnic unity and progress stipulates that "the country adheres to enhancing commonalities while respecting and being inclusive of differences," "the country promotes the mutual learning and integration of the cultures of all ethnic groups, and encourages all ethnic groups to appreciate each other's excellent traditional cultures and learn each other's languages and scripts," and "no organization or individual may intentionally provoke or intensify conflicts, or disrupt public order, on the grounds of ethnicity, customs, religious beliefs, etc."

These provisions demonstrate China's commitment to protecting the legitimate rights and interests of people from all ethnic groups in accordance with the law and to upholding the unity and dignity of the socialist legal system. Accusations that the draft law promotes cultural "assimilation" or "erasure" are, therefore, utterly groundless.

The draft law on promoting ethnic unity and progress does not adopt as its benchmark the value systems that Western societies themselves have struggled to implement successfully. Instead, it seeks to forge a correct path for resolving ethnic issues with Chinese characteristics based on China's own history and national conditions. It guides people of all ethnic groups to enhance their identification with and confidence in Chinese culture.

In this sense, the draft law represents a model approach to addressing ethnic issues internationally. Western countries should view China's development objectively and cease their deliberate efforts to fabricate and incite untruthful anti-China rhetoric.

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