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A suite of laws to counter foreign sanctions, intervention, and long-arm jurisdiction is impacting both cross-border business and geopolitical competition.
Law has become an increasingly important arena for international competition. Over the past six years, China has introduced a series of foreign-related laws and regulations to counter foreign sanctions, intervention, and long-arm jurisdiction, collectively constituting what Chinese policy discourse calls the “three-anti” legal framework (“三反”法治体系). While Beijing’s sanctions and export controls have attracted much of the international attention over the past few years, the blocking and judicial remedy mechanisms under this framework are now also being put into practice.
The latest case came on August 19, when China’s Ministry of Justice (MOJ) invoked the newly enacted Regulations on Countering Improper Extraterritorial Jurisdiction by Foreign States (RCIEJ) against the EU’s investigation into Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com. Beijing said the EU probe sought broad and unnecessary information located in China, determined that the related cross-border investigation constituted improper extraterritorial jurisdiction, and prohibited organizations and individuals from implementing or assisting in implementing the measures concerned.
