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China-EU relations
ChinaDiplomacy

‘Sanctions deterrent’: China frames new Foreign Relations Law as essential to national sovereignty

  • Top diplomat Wang Yi says the legislation is needed to help the country expand its toolbox to cope with unpredictability
  • Wang does not refer to the West but says it is in response to containment and interference

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The law will be part of China’s “toolbox” for “foreign struggles”. Photo: Reuters
Orange Wang
China’s new Foreign Relations Law will act as a “deterrent” to sanctions and is needed urgently to safeguard national sovereignty and security, according to Chinese President Xi Jinping’s most senior diplomacy adviser.

In an article published in Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily on Thursday, Wang Yi said China was confronting a growing number of unpredictable factors and should continuously expand its legal “toolbox” for “foreign struggles”.

“[We should] make full use of the Foreign Relations Law as a legal tool – through legislative, law enforcement, judicial and other means – to carry out our fight in response to acts of containment, interference, sanctions and destruction,” Wang said in the article.

“The … law clearly opposes all hegemonism and power politics, and is against any unilateralism, protectionism and bullying acts … towards China.”

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The legislation was passed by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, China’s top legislature, on Wednesday and is meant to govern the country’s foreign policy.

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