Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law

The Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law of the People's Republic of China (中华人民共和国反外国制裁法) was adopted by the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress on 10 June 2021 and entered into force the same day. Comprising sixteen articles, it codifies and consolidates the retaliatory mechanisms China had previously deployed through ad hoc administrative measures, notably the Ministry of Commerce's "Unreliable Entity List" (September 2020) and the "Rules on Counteracting Unjustified Extra-territorial Application of Foreign Legislation and Other Measures" (January 2021). The law's stated legal foundation rests on principles of sovereign equality and non-interference drawn from the UN Charter and Article 1 of the PRC Constitution's defence of state sovereignty, framing the statute as a defensive instrument against "hegemonism and power politics."

Operationally, Article 3 empowers the State Council's relevant departments to place on a countermeasure list any individual or organization that "directly or indirectly participates in the formulation, decision-making, or implementation" of discriminatory foreign measures against Chinese citizens or entities. Article 6 enumerates the available countermeasures: denial or revocation of visas, deportation, sealing and seizure of property within China, prohibition of transactions and cooperation with domestic organizations and individuals, and other "necessary measures." Crucially, Article 12 prohibits any organization or individual within China from implementing or assisting foreign sanctions, and creates a private right of action allowing Chinese parties to sue for damages in the People's Courts — a provision that places multinational corporations in direct conflict between Western sanctions regimes and Chinese law. Decisions made under the law are, per Article 7, final administrative actions not subject to judicial review.

The statute responds directly to United States and European Union sanctions imposed over Xinjiang, Hong Kong, and human-rights designations; it was enacted weeks after EU, UK, US, and Canadian coordinated Xinjiang sanctions of March 2021. China has invoked the broader countermeasure framework to sanction figures including former US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Senator Marco Rubio, and various NGOs and defence contractors such as Lockheed Martin and Raytheon over Taiwan arms sales. By 2026 the law functions as the keystone of an expanding "toolbox" that includes the Export Control Law (2020), the Data Security Law, and the 2023 Foreign Relations Law, whose Article 33 similarly authorizes countermeasures, signalling Beijing's pivot toward legally institutionalized economic statecraft and "lawfare."

For the exam, this term is most relevant to candidates' understanding of Chinese foreign policy and international relations papers — in the UPSC GS-II syllabus under "effect of policies of developed and developing countries on India's interests," in the FSOT and Guokao foreign-affairs sections, and in CSS International Relations. Typical question angles ask candidates to compare China's reciprocal sanctions regime with the US framework (OFAC, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act) and the EU Blocking Statute, to assess its implications for foreign businesses caught between conflicting jurisdictions, and to situate it within the wider trend of weaponized interdependence and "decoupling" in great-power competition. Knowing the 2021 enactment date, the sixteen-article structure, and the Article 12 private cause of action distinguishes a precise answer from a vague one.