The China Question

www.worldecr.com 20 ThE ChInAquESTIOn CHINA China’s new Export Control Law and an Anti-Sanctions Law are designed to strengthen its hand in its war of ambitions with the United States. How will they impact international trade? I t didn’t take long for Beijing to react aer the US Senate, on 8 June, passed a sweeping bipartisan bill to counter China’s meteoric economic rise. Two days later, China’s highest legislative body cut through legal formalities and fast-tracked a bill into law that threatens to punish businesses and entities that abide by US and EU sanctions on Chinese officials and major Chinese companies. e Anti-Sanctions Law (‘Blocking Statute’), signed on 10 June 2021, means that companies with interests in the United States and China may now face a Hobson’s choice: comply with US sanctions on China and face the possibility of tough sanctions and a penalty in China; or don’t comply with US sanctions on China and face sanctions by the United States. ‘We believe it is necessary for the country to have specific laws to counter foreign sanctions so that we have legal basis and guarantee for such countermeasures,’ Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman RuLE OF LAW