The Law on Foreign Relations of the People’s Republic of China, a foundational and comprehensive legislation for foreign-related fields, will support the steady and long-term development of the Belt and Road Initiative. Photo: CFP

The Law on Foreign Relations of the People’s Republic of China came into force on July 1, 2023, as this year marks the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The BRI covers a wide range of areas, including policy communication, infrastructure connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration, people-to-people exchanges, and industrial cooperation.

Since it was implemented, the initiative has substantively promoted collaboration and exchanges in such fields as the economy, trade, and culture between China and countries involved, opening up a broad path for the development of foreign relations with Chinese characteristics in the new era. The implementation of the Law on Foreign Relations is bound to advance the high-quality development of the BRI.

BRI as basis for legislation

Over the last decade, as China became the second-largest economy and the largest international commodity trader in the world, momentous changes of a like not seen in a century have been accelerating across the world. This highlights the necessity to adopt a more proactive opening-up strategy. Amid self-development, China is committed to bringing benefits to people around the world, pursuing common development and prosperity and contributing to building a global community of shared future.

The original intention of the BRI was to promote international economic, trade, and cultural collaboration and exchanges, which not only aligns with the aim to strengthen international cooperation as specified in the United Nations Charter, but also represents a great innovation to the model, method, and path of foreign relations with Chinese characteristics in the new era.

With cooperative agreements between governments or between governments and international organizations as the bond, and the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation as the platform, the BRI has provided an international rule of law guarantee, based on “soft laws” consisting of normative documents like joint declarations and memorandums of understanding (MOUs), for governmental and non-governmental cooperation. Over the last 10 years, more than 200 soft-law documents of this kind have been put in place.

Compared with the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence that China put forward in the 1950s, the BRI is innovative in the following ways. First, the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence was centered on foreign political relations, while the BRI focuses on economic, trade, and cultural exchanges with other countries.

Second, the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence was initially proposed as a soft law in a bilateral treaty between China and India, and then acknowledged by many international multilateral treaties. The BRI is expected to develop from a bilateral or multilateral soft law into a customary international law characterized by general state practices and opinio juris.

Adjusting foreign relations within the BRI framework, based on soft laws, can help strengthen China’s policy communication with other countries or international organizations, build intergovernmental cooperative platforms, and set the stage for non-governmental economic, trade, and cultural exchanges. This model and path of implementation accounts for why the BRI has been gradually recognized in a growing number of international practical experiences and become an important component of foreign relations with Chinese characteristics in the new era.

Exemplifying foreign relations with Chinese characteristics in the new era, the BRI has offered a practical basis for China’s adjustments to legal principles and rules on foreign relations and for the compilation of the Law on Foreign Relations. Many articles of the law demonstrate the BRI’s influence.

For example, Article 1 regards building a global community of shared future as one of the main aims of the law. According to Article 2, “this Law shall apply to the conduct by the People’s Republic of China of diplomatic relations with other countries, its exchanges and cooperation with them in the economic, cultural, and other areas, and its relations with the United Nations and other international organizations.” In Article 7, it’s stipulated that “the State encourages friendly people-to-people exchanges and cooperation with foreign countries.” Article 26 emphasizes promoting the high-quality development of the BRI, and Article 29 states that China “advances the rule of law in both domestic and foreign affairs and strengthens foreign-related legislative work and the system of rule of law in foreign affairs.”

Significance to joint BRI construction

Today, our world, our times, and history are changing in ways like never before. To push ahead with the BRI, China inevitably faces grim challenges with both opportunities and risks ahead. Against this background, the Law on Foreign Relations, a foundational and comprehensive legislation for foreign affairs, will be conducive to the steady and long-term development of the BRI.

The Law on Foreign Relations incorporates the BRI into China’s legislation for the first time. The report to the 20th Communist Party of China National Congress urges efforts to promote high-standard opening up, including promoting the high-quality development of the BRI and stepping up legislation in foreign-related fields. The Law on Foreign Relations advances the rule of law in domestic and foreign-related affairs in a coordinated manner, providing an institutional foundation for the high-quality development of the BRI.

So far, governmental normative documents for the BRI and guiding documents for economic, trade, and cultural cooperation all have the nature of domestic soft law. With the further development of the BRI, exclusive domestic legislations, including administrative rules and departmental regulations, should be codified and implemented. For example, measures for the organization and management of the China-Europe freight rail service can be introduced as early as possible to unify the service’s branding, transportation organization, whole-course prices, service standards, operational teams, and coordination platforms across China. Only when soft law and hard law complement each other can the BRI develop steadily and over the long term.

In the last 10 years, China has gradually established and completed treaty mechanisms together with Belt and Road countries and regions in trade facilitation, investment protection, green development, and other fields.

For instance, in May 2018, China signed an economic and trade cooperation agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union to reduce non-tariff barriers and improve the level of trade facilitation, based on a Belt and Road cooperative agreement with countries such as Russia and Kazakhstan.

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership effective January 2022, which includes China as a key participant, encompasses economic and trade rules on market access to goods and services, rule of origin, customs procedures, trade facilitation, investment protection, intellectual property, and so on. It is legally binding to 15 contracting states, most of which have engaged in Belt and Road cooperation with China.

In this context, international rule of law cooperation following the implementation of China’s Law on Foreign Relations should continue to advance. For Belt and Road countries that have signed MOUs or concluded bilateral investment agreements with China, documents should be updated in a timely manner, such as adding stipulations on protecting the environment and encouraging green investment. International rule of law cooperation based on China’s Law on Foreign Relations will be a firm underpinning for the steady and long-term development of the BRI.

Key principle

According to Clause 2 of Article 19 in the Law on Foreign Relations, “The People’s Republic of China stays true to the vision of global governance featuring extensive consultation and joint contribution for shared benefits.” This principle — extensive consultation and joint contribution for shared benefits — is fundamental to China’s proposal for a new model of global governance. The key principle has a scope far larger than the diplomatic relations surrounding the BRI, and it will be vital to guiding the high-quality development of the initiative.

In 2017, the Joint Communiqué of the Leaders Roundtable of the [First] Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation made it clear that extensive consultation and joint contribution for shared benefits is the basic cooperation principle for Belt and Road construction. This principle is comprised of sub-principles, like consultation on an equal footing, mutual benefit, harmony and inclusiveness, market-based operation, and balance and sustainability. In 2019, the second Belt and Road forum reiterated this principle and stressed moving on with policy and project cooperation through voluntary participation and consensus-building, based on common responsibility and outcomes.

To guide the high-quality development of the BRI through the principle of extensive consultation and joint contribution for shared benefits, attention should be paid to the following three aspects.

First, it is necessary to consult with related countries, regions, and international organizations on the future of cooperation through bilateral or multilateral channels. So far, most Belt and Road cooperative agreements have a time limit. For example, the MOU between China and Hungary on joint Belt and Road construction, which was inked in June 2015, prescribed that the memorandum is valid for five years starting from the date of signing. Many other agreements are too simple. For example, the declaration between the governments of China and Indonesia, effective May 2018, called for synergizing China’s 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road initiative and Indonesia’s Vision of Global Maritime Fulcrum, thereby further deepening bilateral pragmatic cooperation, but the document is not detailed. Cooperative agreements of this kind are in dire need of update, extension, or upgrade.

Second, the principle of mutual benefit for win-win results should be upheld to jointly construct high-quality Belt and Road projects, especially green investment and green development projects, either via cooperation on intergovernmental platforms or based on market-oriented entities in accordance with pertinent treaties, in order to drive the development of local green industries.

Third, cooperative outcomes should be shared and international trade on goods and services should be increased to make the supply chain more reasonable, thus facilitating the sustainable development of each other’s industries and enhancing a sense of fulfillment and happiness among people around the world.

Zhang Naigen is a professor of law from Fudan University and vice chairman of the Chinese Society of International Law.