The National People’s Congress of China hastily passed a new law on Thursday aimed at countering the sanctions imposed by foreign governments on Chinese officials and companies, intensifying the ongoing legal battle with the United States and the European Union.

The law was passed secretly by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress through two readings instead of the usual third reading, and was established on Earlier measures The Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced in January. The January “Blockade Regulations” prohibit Chinese companies and individuals from complying with foreign government sanctions against China.

“These actions mark a further escalation of the situation Legal war Between China and the United States,” said Zhang Anqi, director of the Chinese Law Research Center of the University of Hong Kong.

Last week, President Joe Biden updated the Trump administration’s rules prohibiting Americans from investing in dozens of Chinese companies.Biden is now in the UK G7 summit, He hopes to unite American allies there to deal with the challenges posed by China and Russia.

“The fact that the law was introduced after last week [Biden administration] The announcement of the amendment to the securities trading ban is consistent with China’s recent reciprocal sanctions announcements against foreign measures,” said Nick Turner, a lawyer at Steptoe & Johnson in Hong Kong.

The Trump administration also threatened to impose sanctions on companies that provide financial services to Chinese officials, saying that these companies are responsible for Beijing’s crackdown on Hong Kong. Democratic movement Muslim Uighurs in Xinjiang, northwestern China. Later, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam complained that the domestic banks ignored her and left her in trouble. “Pile of Cash” In her government residence.

According to the new draft law issued after its adoption, Beijing can take countermeasures, including asset seizures, against individuals and organizations involved in imposing foreign sanctions, which may put foreign investors’ businesses in China into trouble.

“in case [the commerce ministry] According to the law, it is illegal for a subsidiary of Bank of America or any company to comply with US sanctions in China,” Turner said.

According to the countermeasures announced by the Ministry of Commerce in January, Beijing has not targeted any foreign investors. It also did not list any multinational companies as “unreliable entities”-it threatened for the first time two years ago that if they did anything that harmed China’s national interests, such as selling military equipment to Taiwan, they would do so.

“The main purpose of using these regulatory tools is to deter the US government, not to actually punish foreign companies,” Zhang said. “China’s countermeasures are costly… will lead to more decoupling. [from the US], This is not in China’s interest. “

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