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China formulates new law to protect its firms from foreign regulations

Date: January 12, 2021 Nandita Bhardwaj Nandita Bhardwaj
China formulates new law to protect its firms from foreign regulations 
In a bid to push back U.S. sanctions, China has reportedly come up with new rules for protecting its companies from “unjustified” foreign regulations. These changes also permit Chinese courts to punish firms that conform to such restrictions, add sources with knowledge of the matter.



As per records, U.S. President Donald Trump has been consistently targeting Chinese companies, who he believes are a threat to the U.S. national security. The President has also taken measures in this regard, including punishing companies that conduct business with the blacklisted firms.



With regards to the Chinese formulation of laws, the Director of the East Asian Institute, National University of Singapore, Bert Hofman, has stated that the new rules enables the companies impacted by the application of foreign legislation to file legal proceedings in court and seek compensation for the incurred damage.



The measures, however, have no direct mention of the U.S., even though China has been complaining about the U.S. sanctions and restrictions on trade for quite a while now.



As highlighted by a Steptoe & Johnson lawyer, Nicholas Turner, it is still unclear as to whether the order is meant to counter sanctions particularly against China or against a third country, for instance Russia or Iran, which have a pernicious effect on Chinese firms. Legal experts, however, add that it is yet to be clarified as to how the new law will be implemented.



Under an executive order signed by President Trump, shares of the three NYSE-listed large Chinese telecoms companies comprising China Telecom, China Mobile, and China Unicom Hong Kong, are set to be delisted on the basis of alleged ties with the Chinese’s military, cite sources.



The delisting of these firms reportedly comes at a time where a series of actions have been seen against Chinese companies, including the microchip maker SMIC (Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation), TikTok, and Huawei. Recently, President Trump had also signed an executive order putting a ban on eight Chinese apps, comprising WeChat Pay and Alipay.



Source credit: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-55614034

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Nandita Bhardwaj

Nandita holds a management degree with specialization in marketing, and boasts of a short-term experience in the field of recruitment. Following her passion for writing however, she decided to pursue a career in the field of content development. Presently, Nandita pens down news pieces for newsorigins.com, spanning the verticals of business, finance, and technology.