Abstract: For a period of time, protectionism, unilateralism and hegemonism have become rampant in some major foreign powers, which have abused economic sanctions and so-called "long-arm jurisdiction" to suppress Chinese companies, interfere in China's internal affairs, and harm China's sovereignty, security and development interests. Chinahas paid high attention to this phenomenon and seeks responses and countermeasures at the legislative level. On June 10, 2021, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress adopted the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law of the People's Republic of China, which provides a legal basis and tool reserve for countering such "willful" sanctions in accordance with law.Before the adoption of this law, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce promulgated the Provisions on the Unreliable Entity List and the Rules on Counteracting Unjustified Extra-territorial Application of Foreign Legislation and Other Measures (hereinafter referred to as theCounteracting Measures) in September 2020 and January 2021 respectively. The Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law is the integration, expansion and improvement of the above systems.First of all, the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law makes it clear that when foreign countries take discriminatory restrictive measures against Chinese citizens and organizations, and interfere in China’s internal affairs on various excuses or according to their own laws in violation of international law and basic norms of international relations, China has the right to take corresponding countermeasures. By doing so, it unifies the “discriminatory measures” that “endanger China’s national sovereignty, security, and development interests” and “violate the principle of normal market transactions” targeted by the Provisions on the Unreliable Entity List and the “unjustified extra-territorial application of foreign legislation and other measures” targeted by the Counteracting Measures, providing a common upper-level law basis and application benchmark for the implementation of these two systems.Secondly, the "Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law" has expanded and enriched the scope of application and countermeasures. Thirdly, the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law has raised the level of legal effect of related systems.What needs to be emphasized is that the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law has sufficient basis in international morality and law. It is aimed at safeguarding China’s national sovereignty, security and development interests and protecting the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese citizens and organizations. It does not target foreign laws and measures in general, but only the discriminatory restrictive measures that violate international law and basic norms of international relations and interfere in China internal affairs. In other words, the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law and its countermeasures are reasonable, well-founded and restrained defense and counterattack against "willful" foreignsanctions, and thereby are in line with China’s basic position of maintaining the international system with the United Nations as the core and the international order based on international law.

The author of this article is the deputy director general of the Bureau of International Cooperation, CASS, and a senior research fellow and professor at CASS Institute of International Law.