China puts Han official in charge of ethnic minority affairs as Beijing steps up push for integration
- The appointment is the latest shift away from the long-standing policy of giving minority groups autonomy
- New head of National Ethnic Affairs Commission Chen Xiaojiang comes from Communist Party’s disciplinary watchdog
China has appointed a member of the Han majority as head of the body responsible for ethnic minority affairs, breaking a long-standing tradition.
Since 1954, the official responsible for implementing regional autonomy has been a member of one of the country’s many ethnic minority groups, starting with Ulanhu, a renowned ethnic Mongol general whose name could be translated as the “red son of Communism”.
Since then, the National Ethnic Affairs Commission has been led by Hui, Uygur, Korean and Mongol cadres. Having a minority in charge of the commission nominally affirmed China’s long-standing ethnic minority model, in which they are supposedly granted autonomy over their own affairs.
On Monday, the 66-year old convention was broken when Chen Xiaojiang, a Han official who had worked at the Communist Party’s disciplinary watchdog, replaced Bagatur, a Mongol cadre, as the party secretary, according to an announcement on the commission’s website.
The appointment was the latest step in a shift away from the autonomy model in favour of the so-called second-generation ethnic minority, or minzu, policy, which suggests that all minorities in China should integrate to form the great Chinese state.