Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress set to be passed at the closing session of 14th National People’s Congress
3-MIN READ3-MIN ListenEdith Linin Hong KongandMatthew Chengin BeijingPublished: 8:30am, 12 Mar 2026Hong Kong should step up education on Chinese history and culture while highlighting security threats to cultivate public awareness about the need to defend the country, experts have said, as the nation’s legislature is set to pass a law promoting ethnic unity.
The expert’s comments came ahead of the closing session of the 14th National People’s Congress (NPC) on Thursday, which is due to pass the Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress.
The law aims to forge a strong “sense of community for the Chinese nation” and advance “common prosperity” among the country’s 56 ethnic groups.
Among the draft law’s 64 clauses, Article 21 stipulates the role of Hong Kong.
Article 21 states Beijing’s support for Hong Kong in introducing education on the history of the country, its culture and other national studies to guide residents to “consciously safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests”.
Professor Lau Siu-kai, a consultant to the semi-official Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies think tank, said the Hong Kong government should cover ethnic unity in its national education curriculum, regardless of whether the law was included in Annex III of the Basic Law, the city’s mini-constitution.
