China passes law to counter international sanctions
The new anti-sanctions law adopted by the National People's Congress on June 9, 2021 concerns any company that has contributed to Western sanctions against Beijing.
AFP - NICOLAS ASFOURI
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
This text comes a week after the Biden administration expanded a blacklist of Chinese companies in which Americans are prohibited from investing, in the name of national security.
Why this Chinese response?
And above all, what consequences for multinationals caught in the midst of tensions between Beijing and Western countries?
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After the adoption of the anti-sanctions law, which risks placing multinationals in a delicate position, European companies in China are "
in shock,
" the EU Chamber of Commerce in Beijing said on Friday. The text, which had not been released in advance, was adopted Wednesday at a closed-door meeting of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. The Chinese authorities have long complained about the extraterritorial application of American law via sanctions and trade restrictions. Beijing will therefore have decided to strike hard and suddenly.
"
The law has just passed, it was almost by surprise,"
underlines François Godement, adviser for Asia of the Montaigne Institute, at the microphone of
Agnieszka Kumor
, of the Economy department.
But it goes much further than the multinationals because what we are starting to perceive in the text is that it concerns all the individuals and all the entities who have contributed to the adoption of sanctions policies in the with regard to China. It could be officials as well as journalists or researchers. It is a very broad tool
. "
"
There, we have a real geopolitical risk which can concern companies which basically, at the start, have nothing to do with the sanctions mechanism,"
continues François Godement.
This legislation is then applied in an arbitrary, variable and highly political manner depending on the interlocutors.
But now China is increasing threats in its legislative apparatus to attack what must be called hostages.
"
Cornelian choice
With the new law, foreign companies could thus have to make a difficult choice: to comply with American sanctions and risk Chinese retaliation, or
vice versa.
Countermeasures provided for in Chinese law include "
refusal to issue visas, to enter the territory or to deport ... and the sealing, seizure and freezing of the property of persons or companies who adhere to foreign sanctions against companies or officials chinese
s
According to the text published by the standing committee of the National People's Congress, the supreme legislative body of China.
These restrictions may also apply to family members of those in conflict with Beijing.
Blacklist expanded by the White House
In recent months, Biden has intensified US criticism of China, both over intellectual property theft and
human rights violations in Hong Kong
and Xinjiang.
In the blacklist extended by the White House last week, there are now 59 Chinese companies accused of supporting Beijing's military activities, up from 31 previously.
Among them, the big telecoms company China Mobile, the video surveillance company Hikvision and the Chinese oil company CNOOC.
In March, Europeans first sanctioned China for
persecuting Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang
.
Beijing retaliated in the wake with sanctions against a dozen European personalities.
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See also: United States, a plan to counter China: "A strategic, geo-economic and geopolitical challenge"
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