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Beijing Strikes Back Against Western Sanctions

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June 17, 2021–China’s National People’s Congress passed sweeping legislation last week to retaliate against Western sanctions and those who enact them.

The Anti-foreign Sanctions Law gives China’s authority to blacklist individuals and organizations who create or implement discriminating measures against China or its citizens or interfere with China’s internal affairs, according to a Reuters analysis of the legislation.

If targeted and placed on a blacklist, individuals and organizations could face the following consequences:

  • Deportation from China
  • Banned from travel to China.
  • Chinese assets dissolved or frozen.
  • Transaction within China restricted.

Western Sanctions

The new law comes in response to sanctions that the European Union, United States, Canada and Britain issued against Chinese officials last March for human rights abuses in Xinjiang. That same month, China took particular offense at a meeting between U.S. and Chinese diplomats at allegations of human rights abuses.

China sanctions, Beijing Strikes Back Against Western Sanctions, Global Economic Report
China’s National People’s Congress enacted legislation June 10, 2021 to target individuals and organizations involved with sanctions. Li Zhanshu presides over the meeting.

‘Urgent Necessity’ to Counter ‘Power Politics’

According to a statement released by the NPC, the law’s purpose “is to counter, fight and oppose unilateral sanctions on China” and to protect China’s “national sovereignty, security and development interests.” Li Zhanshu, the chairman of the Standing Committee of the NPC, said the law is an urgent necessity “for countering hegemonism and power politics.”

Data Lockdown

Furthermore, alongside the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law, China also passed a data security law to restrict external sharing of information and data creation internally.  

China Still ‘Open for Business

Meanwhile, Chinese officials emphasized that China’s commitment to opening up its economy to the world is firm.

Wang Wenbin, the foreign ministry spokesperson, reported that this new law encourages legal stability within China, “China always welcomes and supports foreign companies to companies to conduct business and cooperation in China and protect their rights and interests in accordance with the law,” Wang said. “China’s door to opening up will only open wider and wider.”

Additional reporting for this story by Patti Mohr

Beijing Strikes Back Against Western Sanctions, Global Economic ReportCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2021 Patti Mohr
China sanctions, Beijing Strikes Back Against Western Sanctions, Global Economic Report

Spencer Hayes

Spencer Brooke Hayes writes about the intersection of economics and human rights for the Global Economic Report. Spencer earned a Masters Degree International Affairs with a concentration in Global and Homeland Security from the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy, University at Albany. She earned her Bachelors's Degree in Political Science and Philosophy in 2019 from the University of Connecticut. Spencer has been accepted into a doctoral program this Fall at the University of Connecticut. She will study international relations and comparative politics.

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