Xi Jinping Orders Beijing to Carry Out ‘International Struggle’ by Bolstering Laws Targeting Foreign Sanctions

Chinese leader Xi Jinping declares the games open during the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics at the Beijing National Stadium in Beijing, China on Feb. 4, 2022. Anthony Wallace - Pool/Getty Images

Chinese leader Xi Jinping told members of the Communist Party to reform laws related to foreign matters, particularly focusing on “urgent” areas including sanctions and foreign interference.

“We must use legal means to conduct international struggle,” Xi said in a speech that he delivered to Party cadres during the Politburo’s recent study session “on building a socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics,” according to a Feb. 15 report by Qiushi, the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) official bi-monthly theoretical journal.

Xi urged the Party to reform domestic laws and foreign-related laws, and to promote the application of Chinese laws in jurisdictions outside of the mainland. He also called for the regime to increase the global influence of its own legal system.

As an authoritarian state, communist China does not observe the rule of law, with the entire legal system operating under the CCP’s supervision and control.

The Chinese leader’s remarks came as a growing number of Western countries impose sanctions on CCP officials involved in human rights abuses, and slap trade restrictions on Chinese companies that pose national security risks.

Xi Jinping applauds during the opening session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 4, 2021. Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

‘International Struggle’

Chinese media has widely promoted one sentence from Mao Zedong, the first chairman of communist China. He told the people to “fight with the heaven, fight with the earth, and fight with the people.”

Now, Xi is echoing Mao’s narrative by ordering the regime “to launch an international struggle.”

“The world has entered a turbulent and reforming period. The international competition is increasingly manifested in the disputes over state systems, rules, and laws,” Xi said in his speech. “We must strengthen the legislation of foreign-related laws and regulations, to improve the efficiency of overseas law enforcement.”

He then told the Party cadres that the situation is urgent and to focus on countering long-arm jurisdiction and sanctions and interference from other countries.

In recent years CCP officials and state-owned enterprises were sanctioned by Western governments over human rights and trade violations. In June 2021, Beijing launched a series of “anti-foreign sanctions“ rules as countermeasures against foreign nations enacting sanctions on China.

The CCP persecutes its own people, including dissenters and members of ethnic minority and religious groups. It continues to threaten Taiwan into unifying it with the mainland, and exercise sovereignty in the Indo-Pacific region by building artificial islands and threatening countries that have competing claims in the South China Sea.

Beijing has criticized other countries for calling out the regime’s abuses by claiming that they have no right to interfere in China’s internal affairs.

The CCP has retaliated against America’s long-arm jurisdiction in which the U.S. judiciary can punish a suspect in a third country by using bilateral and multilateral agreements. For example, in December 2018, Canada arrested Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou on a U.S. extradition request related to fraud charges over her role in Huawei’s violations of U.S. sanctions against Iran through a shell company. Days later, Canadian citizens Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor were detained on baseless charges in China.

In Sept. 24, 2021, the U.S. Justice Department reached a deferred prosecution agreement with Meng, in which she agreed to most of the charges against her while maintaining formal deniability regarding key charges relating to bank and wire fraud. On the same day, a Canadian court removed her bail conditions, allowing her to fly back to China.

Shortly after Meng’s release, Beijing released the “two Michaels.” It’s believed that Meng’s release was a sign of victory for the Chinese regime’s “hostage diplomacy” tactic.

In his speech, Xi ordered the regime to set up judicial cooperation with other countries and train Chinese citizens to become experts in international law.

However, Xi admitted that China’s rule of law system has problems and domestic laws need to be reformed. He warned the regime “not to be misled by the Western styles and thoughts,” and China should walk its own path.