CHINA WATCHChinese Legislation Targets U.S. Trade Sanctions
A day before U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen arrived in Beijing, China passed a sweeping new Foreign Relations Law that appears to be aimed at countering U.S. trade sanctions. The law comes as the government of President Xi Jinping is pushing back against American efforts to cut off its access to technology to make advanced computer chips and efforts to reduce reliance on Chinese suppliers.
As U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen concluded her four-day trip to China, calling it “productive,” the ink was barely dry on China’s sweeping new Foreign Relations Law that appears to be aimed at countering U.S. trade sanctions.
The day before the bill took effect on July 1, China’s official Xinhua News Agency quoted an unnamed person in charge of the Legal Work Committee of the powerful Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress as saying, “China’s foreign-related legal system still has some shortcomings. Especially in terms of safeguarding national sovereignty, security and development interests, there are still many legal gaps.”
The new law aims to close those holes, stressing Beijing’s right “to take corresponding countermeasures” against acts that violate international law and norms and “endanger China’s sovereignty, security and development interests.”
The law comes as the government of President Xi Jinping is pushing back against American efforts to cut off its access to technology to make advanced computer chips and efforts to reduce reliance on Chinese suppliers after the global pandemic revealed the consequences of disrupting the supply chain.
Einar Tangen, an American political and economic affairs commentator in Beijing, said the law essentially provides a legal basis for China to counter sanctions issued by the U.S. and other nations.
“They want to signal in their own way that they had enough, because after they announced this, a few hours later they were talking about taking away gallium exports,” Tangen said, referring to Beijing’s July 3 announcement that it would restrict exports of gallium and germanium — key raw materials widely used in semiconductors and electric vehicles.
“There’s only one paragraph in the new law which is actually new that gives specific authority to respond for national security reasons,” Tangen said. “It’s more of a signal to the U.S. that two can play this game.”
Suisheng Zhao, a professor at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver, also said the law contains little new.
“It actually systematizes and legalizes Xi Jinping’s diplomatic thinking. To some extent, it is an external propaganda to strengthen China’s soft power, describing China as a major responsible country in the world and systematically presenting China’s so-called core interests, diplomatic behavior and principles,” Zhao told VOA Mandarin.
