International Sharp Review | How does China interact with the world? This law speaks volumes about relationships | China | International
Starting from July 1st, the Foreign Relations Law of the People's Republic of China will officially come into effect. This is the first fundamental, programmatic, and comprehensive foreign relations law of the People's Republic of China, providing a more comprehensive legal framework for China's exchanges with the world. It will enable the world to better understand China, understand China's firm belief in promoting the construction of a community with a shared future for mankind, and understand China's determination and responsibility to safeguard national sovereignty, security, development interests, and international fairness and justice. Singapore's Lianhe Zaobao quoted experts as saying that this law demonstrates the principles of China's foreign policy and establishes the discourse of the Chinese ruling party leading foreign affairs in legal form.
Screenshot of the official website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Currently, China's relations with the world have undergone unprecedented changes. On the one hand, China has become the backbone of maintaining world peace and stability, and the main driving force for promoting global economic growth. On the one hand, China's development is facing a more complex international situation. As of the end of June 2023, there are a total of 52 effective foreign related laws in China, but there are still some shortcomings and weaknesses, especially in safeguarding national sovereignty, security, and development interests. There are many legal gaps. In this context, unified legislation on foreign relations is not only a requirement for China's comprehensive rule of law, but also provides stronger legal protection for China's exchanges with the world.
From the content of the Foreign Relations Law, there are a total of 6 chapters and 45 articles, covering all aspects of foreign relations and foreign work. However, some Western media excessively exaggerate China's anti Western sanctions, claiming that this law has a strong "aggressiveness". This statement of "seeing only trees but not forests" appears narrow and one-sided.
It is an international practice for a country to legislate on foreign relations in different forms. The main purpose of China's formulation of the Foreign Relations Law is to concentrate on elaborating China's position and propositions in foreign exchanges, improving the relevant systems of China's foreign relations, demonstrating China's commitment to peace, development, cooperation, and win-win to the world through the rule of law, and providing a more comprehensive legal basis for China's development of foreign relations and promotion of international cooperation.
If you read through this law, you will find several distinct characteristics. The most prominent aspect is to promote friendly exchanges. According to statistics, there are a total of 20 occurrences of "exchange and cooperation", "exchange and cooperation", "friendly exchanges", and "international cooperation" in the entire law. Explanations such as "developing foreign relations and promoting friendly exchanges" and "promoting the implementation of global development initiatives, global security initiatives, and global civilization initiatives" fully demonstrate that China's interaction with the world is friendly and full of goodwill.
In addition, this law also releases clear information on expanding opening up to the outside world. The text mentioned openness six times, cooperation 28 times, and emphasized "promoting the joint construction of high-quality development along the the Belt and Road, maintaining the multilateral trading system, opposing unilateralism and protectionism, and promoting the construction of an open world economy", all of which showed that China's determination to continue to expand opening up was firm.
At the same time, this is also a law that safeguards national sovereignty, security, and development interests. In recent years, the United States has frequently imposed unilateral sanctions and "long arm jurisdiction" on foreign countries, seriously endangering their sovereignty and interests. The Washington Post published an article in early June stating that Washington is sanctioning 12000 entities. The international community, including China, has been deeply affected by it. The Foreign Relations Law clearly stipulates that "the People's Republic of China has the right to take corresponding countermeasures and restrictive measures against acts that violate international law and basic norms of international relations and endanger the sovereignty, security, and development interests of the People's Republic of China.". Analysts believe that this provision provides a legal basis for China to exercise its legitimate rights against sanctions, interference, and long arm jurisdiction, and is also conducive to better maintaining international fairness and justice.
It is worth mentioning that the Foreign Relations Law clearly states "compliance with the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter". This is in stark contrast to the practice of some Western countries often prioritizing domestic law over international law, reflecting China's consistent position in maintaining the international system centered on the United Nations and the international order based on international law.
For the international community, many aspects of this law are not unfamiliar. It is a legal process that transforms China's long-standing foreign policy into law, clearly indicating that China always adheres to peace, development, cooperation, and win-win when dealing with the world. As the world enters a new period of turbulence and change, the positive energy conveyed by this law will enable the world to better understand, understand, and trust China.
