China utilizes legal frameworks to challenge U.S. global influence

China is increasingly utilizing "legal power"—the strategic use of laws, courts, sanctions, and export controls—to protect its national interests and challenge the global influence of the United States.

Recent actions include the Chinese Ministry of Commerce instructing domestic companies to ignore U.S. sanctions against five Chinese refineries accused of processing Iranian crude oil. Additionally, the Chinese Ministry of Justice has challenged the European Union's anti-subsidy investigation into a Chinese security firm, labeling it an improper exercise of foreign jurisdiction.

This shift represents a strategic attempt by Beijing to transform legal frameworks into tools of national power, aiming to reshape international rules in a manner similar to how the United States has historically leveraged its legal and financial systems to exert geopolitical influence.