China issued new rules to block its companies and citizens from having to follow "unjustified” foreign laws and measures, in its latest riposte to U.S. restrictions on businesses like ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok.
The rules on "counteracting unjustified extra-territorial application” of foreign legislation and other measures are effective immediately and allow authorities to ban the imposition of other jurisdictions’ laws on Chinese entities when it deems them inappropriate, the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement on its website on Saturday. China’s move aims to protect "normal trade” and other activities, it said.
The new order will be enforceable in China but it will be difficult to use for activities outside of the country, Nicholas Turner, a lawyer at Steptoe & Johnson LLP in Hong Kong who specializes in economic sanctions, said Saturday.