China’s Sanctions and Rule of Law: How to Respond When China Targets Lawyers

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has begun to use sanctions against people who speak out against its policies. Well-known are the sanctions that the PRC’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson announced on January 20, 2021 against twenty-eight persons, both named and unnamed, who recently served or were then serving in the Trump administration, including the then-Secretary of State and National Security Adviser. On March 26, 2021, however, the PRC announced sanctions against a less conspicuous target: Essex Court Chambers, a set of barristers’ chambers in London known for commercial work and investment arbitration. What ostensibly provoked China’s unusual move was a hundred-odd-page legal opinion. Four barristers in Essex Court—Alison Macdonald QC, Jackie McArthur, Naomi Hart, and Lorraine Aboagye—had supplied the opinion to address whether China might have international criminal responsibility for crimes against humanity and genocide against the Uyghurs