BEIJING, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- China's launch of its first national security investigation in the field of foreign trade marks an important step in upgrading the country's economic and trade governance framework and a new stage of the enforcement of its legal regime for safeguarding national security in foreign trade, experts have said.
The Ministry of Commerce recently announced a series of countermeasures against U.S. restrictive actions targeting China, including the national security investigation into related imported office equipment with printing and copying functions that feature foreign system software.
National security investigations in foreign trade are a common institutional arrangement adopted by major economies to improve economic and trade governance systems, said Zhang Monan, a researcher at the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, adding that the United States and the European Union have both established mature trade security investigation mechanisms.
"It is not only a necessary response to unfair trade practices, but also an institutional arrangement to safeguard national security, strengthen the resilience of industrial and supply chains, and support high-quality foreign trade development," Zhang said.
China is working on a systematic and institutionalized trade security framework, Zhang noted, citing two probes into U.S. trade barriers in March and new measures on industrial and supply chain security investigations published in June.
Shi Xiaoli, director of the WTO law research center at the China University of Political Science and Law, said the recently announced national security investigation further enriches China's foreign trade policy toolkit.
Data shows that imported office equipment with printing and copying functions account for roughly half of China's domestic market in terms of both sales volume and value, exerting a significant influence on domestic industries, while domestic producers with fully independent intellectual property rights hold less than one-quarter of the market.
Highlighting the necessity of the investigation, Shi said it will provide an accurate and objective assessment of import conditions and the influence on domestic industries and markets, especially the impact of imported products and relevant foreign government policies on China's national security interests in foreign trade.
If the investigation concludes that imports have harmed those interests, related Chinese government departments are justified to take necessary measures according to law to safeguard national security and development interests.
Experts stressed that prudence is a defining feature of the investigation.
National security investigations in the field of foreign trade are conducted within a clearly defined legal framework and focus on statutory national security interests, Zhang said.
China always opposes the instrumentalization, politicization and overexpansion of national security investigations and will conduct the investigation in a prudent and objective manner, experts said.
Shi noted that the scope of the current investigation is limited to products with a close connection to national security, distinguishing it from broader investigations launched by some countries covering entire industrial chains or products with little substantive relevance to national security.
China's launch of the national security investigation is reasonable, lawful and proportionate, Shi said.
According to Zhang, the investigation will safeguard fair and stable international trade, rather than using national security as a pretext for protectionism. ■
