System of Regional Autonomy for Ethnic Minorities

It refers to establish self-government organs in areas where ethnic minorities live under the unified and inseparable state leadership, to exercise autonomy and implement regional autonomy. Its core is to protect the rights of ethnic minorities to be the masters of the country and manage their own ethnic and local affairs. This is a basic political system in China, an important content of building socialist politics with Chinese characteristics, and a manifestation of the basic policy of the Communist Party of China to resolve ethnic issues. Since its establishment, the Communist Party of China has gradually put forward a policy of ethnic regional autonomy that suits national conditions on the basis of continuous exploration. The Hui Autonomous Government of Yuhai County, Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, established in May 1936 is one of the earliest practices of the Party’s ethnic regional autonomy policy.

On May 1, 1941, the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region Government promulgated the “Administrative Program for the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region”: “According to the principle of ethnic equality, the Mongolian, Hui and Han nationalities shall have equal political, economic and cultural rights, and Mongolian and Hui ethnic autonomous regions are established.” On May 1, 1947, the leaders of the Communist Party of China established China's first provincial-level Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The “Common Program of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference” in 1949 stipulated: “Regions where ethnic minorities live in concentrated communities shall implement ethnic regional autonomy. Various organs of ethnic self-government shall be established in accordance with the population and the size of the region inhabited by ethnic minorities.” Later, ethnic regional autonomy was clearly included in the previous constitutions and became an important political system of China. The “Outline for the Implementation of Ethnic Regional Autonomy of the People's Republic of China” approved in 1952 made detailed provisions on the issue of ethnic regional autonomy. The Constitution promulgated and implemented in 1954 further affirmed the system of ethnic regional autonomy in the form of the fundamental law of the country. In October 1955, the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region was established; in March 1958, the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region was established; in October 1958, the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region was established; in September 1965, the Tibet Autonomous Region was established. So far, ethnic regional autonomy has been realized nationwide. Since the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh CPC Central Committee, China’s ethnic regional autonomy system has entered a new period of development.

In 1981, the “Resolution on Several Historical Issues of the Party Since the Founding of the People’s Republic of China” passed at the Sixth Plenary Session of the Eleventh CPC Central Committee proposed: “We shall uphold the implementation of ethnic regional autonomy, strengthen the legal system of ethnic regional autonomy, and guarantee the autonomy of all ethnic areas to implement the Party and state policies in accordance with local conditions.” The 1982 Constitution fully restored the principles and main contents of the 1954 Constitution concerning the ethnic regional autonomy system, added new contents in accordance with changes in national conditions, and made new and more complete regulations on the ethnic regional autonomy system. On May 31, 1984, the 2nd Session of the 6th National People's Congress deliberated and passed the first special law on ethnic regional autonomy, i.e. “Law of the People's Republic of China on Ethnic Regional Autonomy”. In December 1991, the “Notice of the State Council on Several Issues Concerning the Further Implementation of the ‘Law of the People's Republic of China on Ethnic Regional Autonomy’” was issued, and new progress was made in the formulation of supporting regulations for the “Law of the People's Republic of China on Ethnic Regional Autonomy”. Since the 16th CPC National Congress, the CPC Central Committee has upheld and improved the ethnic regional autonomy system.

The Central Ethnic Work Conference was held in 2005. The CPC Central Committee and the State Council issued the “Decision on Further Strengthening Ethnic Work and Accelerating the Economic and Social Development of Ethnic Minorities and Ethnic Regions”, which clearly made the ethnic regional autonomy system one of China's basic political systems. In 2007, the report of the 17th CPC National Congress listed the system of people’s congress, the system of multi-Party cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the Communist Party, the system of ethnic regional autonomy, and the system of grassroots mass autonomy as the four basic political systems in China, and emphasized the huge political advantages of the ethnic regional autonomy system. In 2012, the report of the 18th CPC National Congress further proposed to fully and correctly implement the Party’s ethnic policies, adhere to and improve the ethnic regional autonomy system, and promote harmony, mutual assistance and harmonious development of all ethnic groups. In November 2013, the Third Plenary Session of the Eighteenth CPC Central Committee once again emphasized the political proposition of “implementing the Party's ethnic policy, protecting the legal rights and interests of ethnic minorities, and consolidating and developing socialist ethnic relations based on equality, solidarity, mutual assistance and harmony”. The organs of self-government in ethnic autonomous areas are the people’s congresses and people’s governments of autonomous regions, autonomous prefectures, and autonomous counties. The composition and work of the organs of self-government in ethnic autonomous areas are regulated by the autonomous regulations or separate regulations of the ethnic autonomous areas in accordance with the Constitution and laws.

The administrative status of ethnic autonomous areas is, in principle, determined based on the size and population of each autonomous area. Autonomous regions are equivalent to provincial-level administrative units, autonomous prefectures are ethnic regions between autonomous regions and autonomous counties, and autonomous counties are equivalent to county-level administrative units. The organs of self-government in ethnic autonomous areas implement the system of people’s congresses. The people’s government of an ethnic autonomous area shall be responsible to and report to the people’s congress at the corresponding level and the state administrative organs at the next higher level. When the people's congress at the corresponding level is not in session, it shall be responsible to and report to the standing committee of the people's congress at the corresponding level. The people’s governments of all ethnic autonomous areas are state administrative organs under the unified leadership of the State Council, and they are all subject to the command of the State Council. The organs of self-government in ethnic autonomous areas implement the responsibility system of the chairman of the autonomous region, the governor of the autonomous prefecture, and the county head of the autonomous county, who respectively presides over the work of the people’s government at the corresponding level. The organs of self-government in ethnic autonomous areas can exercise the power of autonomy in addition to the functions and powers of general state organs at the same level.

The main contents are as follows: exercise legislative rights, and have the right to flexibly implement relevant laws, the right to use the native language, the right to train cadres, the right to form public security forces, the right to independently develop the economy, the right to conduct trade activities, the right to manage finances, and the right to independently develop cultural education, etc. The implementation of ethnic regional autonomy is an institutional arrangement made by the Communist Party of China based on China’s historical development, cultural characteristics, ethnic relations, and ethnic distribution, and conforms to the common interests and development requirements of all ethnic groups.The ethnic regional autonomy system combines ethnic factors with regional factors, political factors with economic factors, and historical factors with practical factors, which fully embodies China’s adherence to the principles of equality, unity, cooperation and common prosperity of all ethnic groups, and is a great pioneering work of the Party and people of all ethnic groups.