Jim Risch, Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee [Reuters=Yonhap News]

U.S. senators have issued a joint statement expressing their concern and opposition to China’s implementation of the "Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress" (Ethnic Unity Law).

According to the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the 2nd (local time), nine members of the committee, including Ranking Member Jim Risch (R-Idaho) and Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), released a statement opposing the legislation.

In the statement, they criticized the law, saying, "For decades, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has denied the right to self-determination for ethnic minorities such as the Tibetans, Uyghurs, and Mongols," and added, "China’s new Ethnic Unity Law is an unjust policy aimed at eradicating the religion, culture, and language of ethnic minorities both within and outside China."

They continued, "We are particularly concerned about the provisions of the law that force ideological compliance with the CCP," adding, "This legislation grants China near-limitless power to prosecute those who oppose its oppression and only serves to justify transnational repression."

The senators emphasized, "We will continue to stand against the CCP's attempts to undermine the sovereignty of other nations and will support the human rights of ethnic minorities, including Tibetans and Uyghurs."

The statement saw bipartisan participation, including from Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a close ally of former President Donald Trump, along with other Republican and Democratic senators.

From the House of Representatives, Chairman John Moolenaar (R-Mich.) and Ranking Member Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) of the House Select Committee on the CCP joined the effort. Representative Young Kim (R-Calif.), Chairwoman of the House Subcommittee on the Indo-Pacific, also added her name to the statement.

China began enforcing the Ethnic Unity Law on the 1st, which mandates the priority use of the Chinese language among ethnic minorities and penalizes acts of "ethnic separatism." The law includes provisions that allow China to hold individuals legally accountable even for actions taken outside its borders if those actions are deemed to undermine ethnic unity and development or incite ethnic division.