Chinese President Xi Jinping has highlighted ‘lawfare’ as an important field of geopolitical contention, writing in Qiushi, one of the Chinese Communist Party’s principal theoretical journals: “from an international perspective, the world has entered a period of turbulence and change. International competition is increasingly reflected in the struggle of systems, rules and laws” (italics added). In order to face this reality, therefore, China
must strengthen the construction of foreign-related laws and regulations, enhance the judicial efficiency of foreign-related law enforcement, and resolutely safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests.
Xi Jinping laid out five priority areas in which to take action, including “the use of the rule of law to carry out international struggles,” through which “it is necessary to persist in … improving laws and regulations on anti-sanctions, anti-interference, and countering ‘long-arm jurisdiction’.” This latter refers to the ability of a court to hear a case and issue a binding verdict concerning a defendant outside its jurisdiction, that is, to exercise jurisdiction over defendants beyond its regional or national context.
In the Chinese context, it specifically has to do with Western attempts to take legal action against China, most recently in relation to Hong Kong and the Uyghur population. The need to counter this has also been expressed by parliament Chief Li Zhanshu, who has spoken of the need to “upgrade our legal toolkit” to “oppose foreign sanctions, interference, and long-arm jurisdiction.”
In his Qiushi piece, the Chinese president further recommends
promoting the construction of a legal system applicable outside the territory of our country. It is necessary to include the expansion of law enforcement and judicial cooperation in … the construction of bilateral and multilateral relations,
thereby “protecting China’s overseas interests.” This will require local expertise on foreign and international legal systems: “it is necessary to strengthen the building of foreign-related rule of law talents.”
