China completes legal framework for foreign-related affairs

China has essentially completed its legal framework for handling foreign-related matters, with more than 50 relevant laws enacted by the end of last year, according to a recent report.

The report, introduced by the Institute of International Law under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that as of Dec. 25, China had 305 effective laws, including 54 specifically designed to address foreign affairs. More than 150 others contain provisions involving foreign-related matters.

Among roughly 600 administrative regulations, nearly 90 are tailored to deal with foreign-related affairs, the full version of the report said. It was made public on the institute's website Monday.

"China has established a comprehensive foreign-related legal system, with the Constitution as the guiding principle, the Foreign Relations Law as the foundation, the specialized laws as the mainstay, and the regulations as an important component," the report said.

It added that China continued to advance legislation in foreign-related fields in 2024 by formulating the Tariff Law and amending the Frontier Health and Quarantine Law, the Anti-Money Laundering Law, and the State Secrets Law. These efforts accounted for 18.2 percent of all laws adopted or revised during the year.

Alongside legislative progress, China also promoted bilateral and multilateral law enforcement cooperation to safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests, the report said.

For example, the country has actively engaged in extraterritorial law enforcement in economic and trade areas such as anti-monopoly and anti-unfair competition. Government departments have also explored the extraterritorial application of Chinese laws based on the principles of international law.

To support high-level opening-up, China has improved the quality and professionalism of its handling of foreign-related cases and optimized legal services for foreign parties, according to the report.

It said that from 2013 to June 2022, the Supreme People's Court issued 31 judicial interpretations on civil, commercial and maritime cases involving foreign matters. By the end of last year, international commercial tribunals had been established in more than 13 cities.

As of September last year, the number of arbitration organizations for international commercial disputes had reached 282. Meanwhile, efforts to train lawyers specializing in trade-related cases have also been strengthened, the report said.