The CCP journal Qiushi recently published the full text of Xi Jinping’s speech during a collective study at the Politburo in December last year, in which he proposed to “use the rule of law to carry out international struggles.” Some analysts pointed out that Xi Jinping may be trying to shock other countries with this, but it is likely to be self-defeating.
In his speech, Xi Jinping said that “international competition is increasingly manifested in disputes over systems, rules, and laws” and called for “strengthening foreign-related legislation, further improving anti-sanctions, anti-interference, and countering “long-arm jurisdiction” laws and regulations, and promoting my country’s The construction of a legal system applicable outside the jurisdiction”.
Lin Heli, a visiting professor at the Department of History of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said to Faguang that this kind of extraterritorial approach to “anti-interference” has little chance of being used, because if these laws are made unilaterally, other countries will not be able to. will not care.
Xi Jinping is obviously aware of this, so he also mentioned in his speech, “It is necessary to include the expansion of law enforcement and judicial cooperation into an important issue in the construction of bilateral and multilateral relations, and to extend the safety chain to protect my country’s overseas interests.” Through diplomatic negotiations to reach agreements with more countries.
However, the CCP’s persecution of human rights, coupled with its implementation of the wolf warrior diplomacy, has long aroused great resentment in the international community. On the other hand, in the face of the CCP’s ambition to undermine existing international rules and expand its influence, democratic countries are also actively Form an alliance to contain the CCP. Under such circumstances, it is not only difficult for the CCP to further expand the space for judicial cooperation with other countries, but the original space is also shrinking.
For example, in June last year, after the CCP forced the “Hong Kong version of the National Security Law”, nine countries including the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, Canada, and Germany successively suspended the agreement with Hong Kong on the surrender of fugitive offenders. France, which has signed the agreement and entered the parliamentary approval process , also called off the deliberations.
Lin Heli also said that Xi Jinping’s desire to strengthen the legislation on extraterritorial jurisdiction may be related to “hostage diplomacy”, that is, to act as a deterrent and to detain people from other countries who enter or appear in Chinese territory in the name of “law”, but it is likely to have a deterrent effect. Backfire and scare away investors.
He pointed out that the CCP leadership actually understands the pros and cons, because the “Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law” passed last year once wanted to extend to Hong Kong, but this would undoubtedly affect Hong Kong’s status as an international financial center, and the motion was eventually suspended.
Lin Heli believes that no matter whether the legislation on extraterritorial jurisdiction is effective or not, Xi Jinping’s fighting stance will also make the international situation even more tense.