Appointment of Han Ethnic as Party Secretary of Minority Affairs Committee in China... Moves to Block 'Separatism'

Protesters condemning the abolition of Mongolian language classes in China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, last September
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] China is reported to have broken the convention of appointing ethnic minority officials to the position of Party Secretary, the head of the National Ethnic Affairs Commission, which oversees minority issues within the country, by appointing a Han Chinese official. This move is interpreted as a measure to fundamentally block separatist movements occurring across China, including in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Tibet, and Hong Kong.

According to the South China Morning Post (SCMP) on the 20th, the National Ethnic Affairs Commission recently announced on its website that it has replaced the commission’s head, Party Secretary Bater, who is of Mongol ethnicity, with the new Party Secretary Chen Xiaojang, who is Han Chinese. This commission, which oversees ethnic minorities in China, had traditionally been led only by officials from ethnic minority groups, but this convention has now been broken. The Party Secretary position has been held by ethnic minorities such as Mongols, Huis, and Uygurs for 66 years since 1954.

SCMP reported that following the personnel announcement, questions have arisen as to whether 65-year-old Bater is retiring due to age or if this is a disciplinary personnel change related to protests by Mongols opposing the strengthening of Chinese language education in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region earlier this year. Typically, the term for a commission Party Secretary in China is 5 to 10 years, but Bater’s term was only in its fourth year.

This personnel change is interpreted as reflecting a shift in the Chinese government’s policy from guaranteeing ethnic minority autonomy toward emphasizing the integration of the Chinese nation. James Leibold, a China ethnic minority expert at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia, told SCMP in an interview, “This is an event signaling the end of the commission’s main roles of advocating for ethnic minority autonomy and rights, and preserving culture and language,” expressing concern that “the commission will become a rubber stamp.”

The Chinese government has recently been highly sensitive to separatist movements, including issues in Xinjiang Uygur, Tibet, Taiwan, and anti-government protests in Hong Kong, emphasizing the integration of the Chinese nation. Since last year, many regions in China have reduced preferential policies for ethnic minorities, such as bonus points on university entrance exams, and this year, there has been backlash as language subject textbooks and instruction have been forced to switch from minority languages to Chinese.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.