By Shazia Anwer Cheema
On October 7, 2022, the United States imposed export controls, that according to Biden Administration were to curtail “China’s access to technology critical to the manufacturing and operations of its military power”. However, people in the field of technology consider this step to control overall Chinese advancement in computing technologies for developing more advanced supercomputers and manufacturing semiconductors.
There is no doubt that the global semiconductor industry is completely dependent on US-allied countries for chip design and the infrastructure for making chips. We know the best thing that the Western world does is that “it has reason to believe” that some individual or a country is planning something dangerous for humanity. Then this country or the individual can be arrested or bombed so this law is directly linked with this “reason to believe” mantra. In its response, China now has “reasons to believe” that countries stopping its scientific development and hitting its economic interests are enemies of China and they should be dealt with as enemies.
On June 29, 2023, China introduced a law explaining its right “to take corresponding countermeasures and restrictive measures” against acts that violate international law and norms and “endanger China’s sovereignty, security, and development interests,”. This law is the first of its kind and nature that provides the right to China for taking “countermeasures and restrictive measures” against anybody that tries to hamper Chinese interests in development.
China has the right to take necessary countermeasures in accordance with the law against acts that violate international law and the basic norms governing international relations and endanger China’s sovereignty, security, and development interests
Chinese media is calling this law “timely and a move in the right direction” for safeguarding “national rejuvenation” – a buzzword that represents the policy introduced by President Xi Ping. This law is called “Foreign Relations Law”. It has six chapters and every chapter deals with guidance and basic principle of foreign relations, functions of foreign relations, power of foreign relations, the objectives for the development of foreign relations, the legal system of foreign relations, and the guarantees laid down for the development of foreign relations.
I understand that China has already such laws so why does China need the inclusion of a six-chapter new law to redefine its foreign relations? I may be wrong, but I believe that China has offered a new “Global Governance” guideline for its legal system and for others who desire diplomatic relations with Beijing.
It is pertinent to mention here that the National People’s Congress (NPC) issued the draft of this law in December 2022—just after two months Washington introduced export controls and the law was drafted after a report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) that took place in October 2022 that called to step up legislation in key, emerging, and foreign-related fields and advance the rule of law in domestic and foreign-related affairs in a coordinated manner, so that good laws are made to promote development and ensure good governance.
Chinese foreign affairs experts are calling this law a “shield” for safeguarding Chinese’s development interests that will surely provide China with more powers to respond to export control measures and sanctions against China because international laws are being floated by powerful countries in curtailing Chinese growth while China is developing itself while abiding the basic principles of international law and the basic norms governing international relations.
China has the right to take necessary countermeasures in accordance with the law against acts that violate international law and the basic norms governing international relations and endanger China’s sovereignty, security, and development interests. The country shall formulate necessary laws, administrative regulations, and departmental rules, establish corresponding working systems and mechanisms, strengthen coordination among departments, and establish and implement relevant countermeasures and restrictive measures.
Western media believes that China has already tailored a framework to aggressively responding export controls that are actually export sanctions against China and now it is the first time China has entered the global theatre with a bag in its hand and nobody knows what would come out of this bag—a dragon or a cat?
Note: Writer Shazia Anwer Cheema is an author, columnist, and foreign affairs expert who writes for national and international media. She is a doctoral student and researcher in semiotics and philosophy of communication at Charles University in Prague. She can be reached at her: Twitter @ShaziaAnwerCh Email: shaziaanwer@yahoo.com
Disclaimer:
The views and opinions expressed in this article/Opinion/Comment are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the DND Thought Center and Dispatch News Desk (DND). Assumptions made within the analysis are not reflective of the position of the DND Thought Center and Dispatch News Desk News Agency.
