Tomorrow, Thursday, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress is set to pass a new anti-Western sanctions law targeting Chinese companies, which would provide legal protection for retaliatory measures that Beijing may take later.
The bill was presented on Monday in the first session of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly, the country’s highest legislative body, where the four-day meeting is scheduled to end with the announcement of the law’s passage.
According to Chinese state media, the new law aims to provide a legal basis for the central government to take retaliatory measures against foreign sanctions, but it did not disclose the details of the legislation.
While observers believe that Beijing is trying to catch up with its Western opponents on laws related to the imposition of international sanctions, and through this procedure, it seeks to adopt its own version of the Magnitsky Act, which allows the US administration to impose measures outside its borders against countries or individuals who commit human rights violations.
The announcement of this step comes after China imposed new rules early this year, against what it described as the unjustified application of foreign legislation outside regional borders.
Officials at the time said the rules were aimed at defending national interests in the face of a series of sanctions imposed by Washington on Chinese technology companies.
In announcing the bill, China Central Television said that in order to protect national sovereignty, dignity and basic interests, in addition to opposing the hegemonic policy and the upper hand of Western governments, Beijing launched a series of countermeasures in response to foreign sanctions.
He noted that out of political manipulation and ideological bias, some Western countries have used the issues related to Xinjiang and Hong Kong, as a pretext for defamation and brutally interfering in China’s internal affairs.
For its part, European companies operating in China expressed their concern about the new law, considering that it lacks transparency, especially since the first reading has not been announced, and there is no draft for perusal.
Commenting on the law, Jörg Woetke, head of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, said such action was not conducive to attracting foreign investment or reassuring companies that increasingly feel they are being used as pawns and victims of political chess.
Foreign companies operating in China fear that if they comply with Western sanctions in the future, they may face retaliation from China, under the new law.
It is noteworthy that this is the first time that Beijing has resorted to the legal system in response to Western sanctions, as it used to deal with this matter in the past through diplomatic channels.
Earlier this month, US President Joe Biden signed an executive order banning US companies and entities from investing in 59 Chinese companies that have ties to the Chinese military and state monitoring systems. The United States, the European Union, Britain and Canada have also imposed sanctions on Chinese officials accused of human rights violations in Xinjiang.
