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SHANGHAI: China passed a new law restricting sensitive exports to protect national security, allowing Beijing to reciprocate against the United States as tensions between the parties over trade and technology rise.
The law, which will apply to all companies in China, was approved on Saturday (October 17) by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress and will take effect on December 1.
Under the law, China can take “reciprocal action” toward countries or regions that abuse export controls and threaten its national interests and security.
The export controls provided for by law will apply to civil, military and nuclear products, as well as goods, technologies and services related to national security. A list of controlled items will be published “in a timely manner” together with the relevant departments, in accordance with the law.
The new law allows Beijing to retaliate against the US, which in recent months has tried to block Chinese tech companies such as telecommunications equipment provider Huawei, Bytedance’s TikTok app, and Tencent’s WeChat messaging app for represent a threat to national security, including the data you may possess from operating in the country.
Companies and individuals who endanger national security by violating the new export control law, including those outside of China, could face criminal charges. Violations of the law, such as exporting items without a permit, could result in fines of 5 million yuan (746,500 US dollars) or up to 20 times the commercial value of the illegal transaction.
The new law adds to the growing uncertainty of Bytedance’s deal to sell its TikTok video app to US firm Oracle. In August, China added technologies including speech recognition, text analytics and content recommendations to its list of regulated exports.
President Donald Trump had previously ordered Bytedance to either sell its US TikTok operations to a US company or face a lockdown in the country.
The new export control laws add to China’s growing set of regulatory tools that allow it to take action against countries like the United States.
