Legislation to counter foreign sanctions

China will speed up lawmaking aimed at countering foreign sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction, its top legislature said yesterday.

Reading its annual work report at the ongoing fourth session of the 13th National People’s Congress, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee Li Zhanshu said China will in the coming year accelerate legislation relating to external affairs and “upgrade our legal toolkit” in an effort to “oppose foreign sanctions, interference, and long-arm jurisdiction.”

In a speech last November, President Xi Jinping urged top Party leaders to “promote the rule of law” in matters involving foreign parties. He also called for the use of legal means to defend China’s sovereignty, security and interests.

The United States has increasingly used sanctions or the threat of sanctions to interfere China’s policies in Xinjiang and Hong Kong. All 14 of Li’s deputies in the leadership of the National People’s Congress are under US sanctions for their role in passing a national security law in Hong Kong last year.

The NPC will make a decision on improving Hong Kong’s electoral system during its ongoing annual session. The NPC Standing Committee will then make revisions to the relevant law on the basis of the decision as part of a package of legal measures to ensure constitutional order and the rule of law in Hong Kong, Li said.

The NPC will continue to perform its legally mandated duties and provide legal safeguards for ensuring constitutional order in Hong Kong, countering forces seeking “Hong Kong independence,” ensuring that patriots administer Hong Kong, and maintaining long-term prosperity and stability in the region, Li said.

Yang Yirui, acting commissioner of the Ministry of the Foreign Affairs of China in Hong Kong, said that it is urgent that the loopholes in the Hong Kong’s electoral system must be closed to fundamentally resolve the problems in Hong Kong, which should gain understanding and support from the international community.