Thread by @julianku

This law really does two things. 1) It formalizes the process for sanctioning foreign govt officials who implement sanctions as well as their families and perhaps think tanks, NGOS, or people who advised on those foreign sanctions). E.g. the recent sanctions on EU

https://twitter.com/NPC_Observer/status/1402990377812955143

The other thing the new law does is prohibit any companies operating in China from complying with EU or US sanctions and expose them to civil lawsuits for damages caused by such compliance. E.g. the XPCC could sue HM, etc.

This second part of the law essentially copies the EU Blocking Statute, which is also aimed at nullifying the effect of US sanctions (like on Iran). ec.europa.eu/info/business-…

Like the EU law, the Chinese law has a provision allowing companies to seek permission to comply with US sanctions out of necessity. This might be a large loophole, depending on how the govt applies this provision. (I expect well-connected Chinese companies might use this)

The Chinese govt cd have just enacted the second part (e.g. the blocking statute) and I don't think anyone (certainly not the EU) wd have been troubled. The first part, which potentially exposes think tanks to sanctions just for supporting sanctions on China is the crazy part.

To show how broad the scope of Chinese counter-sanctions might be, did I indirectly participate in the formulation (间接参与制定) of US South China Sea sanctions by publishing this Lawfare post? lawfareblog.com/its-time-south… Probably not, but who knows?

I mean, the law could apply counter sanctions to spouses and immediate family members, so I guess my wife will have to cancel that trip to China (or even HK)?

The more normal reading of this statute would limit counter sanctions to those who actually formulated the sanctions on China (e.g. govt officials). But the recent EU counter sanctions went after scholars, think tanks, etc. So the scope of the law is probably broad.

(Whoops, I was too fast with this reading. the Chinese law suggests but actually doesn't explicitly say you can apply for an exemption. Art. 15 is a little mysterious to me. so I will withdraw this part of the take for now).