As China extends ‘global legal reach’, US should more actively engage to counter influence, top panel hears

Witnesses paint fuller picture of Beijing building a ‘Chinese version of rule of law’ while emulating Western legal practices

US urged to take more leading role in shaping international laws, including in space, technical standards and maritime rules

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The Supreme People’s Court of the People’s Republic of China, the country’s highest court, in Beijing. Photo: AFP

Published: 7:00am, 5 May 2023Updated: 7:21am, 6 May 2023

The US should take a more active role in countering China’s efforts to influence global legal standards, even if that involves engaging more with Beijing on the subject, witnesses told a top American congressional panel in Washington on Thursday.

In testimony before the US-China Economic and Security Commission (USCC) on Beijing’s “increasingly global legal reach”, a fuller picture emerged of the mainland government building a “Chinese version of rule of law”, including a lack of judicial independence, while emulating Western legal practices.

“Ninety per cent of the time, the Chinese courts rule fairly because that allows China’s economy to function and that ultimately benefits the CCP,” said Dan Harris, a partner at law firm Harris Bricken, referring to China’s Communist Party.

“But if a case is critical to CCP power and control, fairness gets tossed out the window. That 10 per cent is lawfare,” he added, describing the use of a legal system to hurt opponents.

American companies often get caught in those cases of lawfare, Harris continued, and the US government should help them exit China, particularly those with manufacturing operations.