China ‘Foreign Relations Law’ to punish decoupling
A year after the US-China chips war started in earnest and less than two months after G7 countries’ May 7 decision to de-risk from China, Beijing has hit back with a new law.
Hastily enacted legislation, effective Saturday, authorizes authorities to punish any organization or individual for committing “acts that are detrimental to China’s national interests.”
The Foreign Relations Law is aimed at issuing a warning to Western countries that promote “decoupling” from China and disrupt international order, according to Chinese officials and legal experts.
Some commentators say the vagueness of the law’s language defining the crime may fuel China-based foreign firms’ concerns about deteriorating Sino-United States relations. They note that relocating to Singapore or Dubai can be a way to minimize geopolitical risks.
“The law improves the relevant systems of our country’s foreign relations, and shows the world the image of our nation as a responsible major country that promotes peace, development, cooperation and mutual success through the rule of law,” an unnamed official of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC)’s Legal Affairs Commission, said Thursday in an official announcement.
The official stressed that the passage of this law is not aimed at setting up long-arm jurisdiction; China has already implemented the Unreliable Entity List in 2020 and the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law and the Rules on Counteracting Unjustified Extra-territorial Application of Foreign Legislation and Other Measures in 2021.
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China's carbon emissions are vast and growing, dwarfing those of other countries. Experts agree that without big reductions in China's emissions, the world cannot win the fight against climate change. In 2020, China's President Xi Jinping said his country would aim for its emissions to reach their highest point before 2030 and for carbon neutrality before 2060. His statement has now been confirmed as China's official position ahead of the COP26 global climate summit in Glasgow. But China has not said exactly how these goals will be achieved.
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A crucial U.N. conference heard calls on its first day for the world's major economies to keep their promises of financial help to address the climate crisis, while big polluters India and Brazil made new commitments to cut emissions. World leaders, environmental experts and activists all pleaded for decisive action to halt the global warming which threatens the future of the planet at the start of the two-week COP26 summit in the Scottish city of Glasgow on Monday. The task facing negotiators was made even more daunting by the failure of the Group of 20 major industrial nations to agree ambitious new commitments at the weekend.