China's first law on foreign relations, passed by the country's top legislature on Wednesday, is set to take effect on July 1, filling a gap in the rule of law in foreign-related affairs amid complex international situations.

Divided into six chapters, the Law on Foreign Relations of the People's Republic of China mainly focuses on the major policies, the guiding ideology, purposes, principles, tasks and objectives of the country's foreign affairs.

Hailing the law as the first basic foreign-related law since the founding of the People's Republic of China, Wang Yi, director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, emphasized that the law lays out general provisions for the development of China's foreign relations.

The law has been deemed necessary as there were previously no specified laws targeting unfair foreign sanctions and restrictions.

Huo Zhengxin, a law professor at the China University of Political Science and Law, told Global Times that the unilateral sanctions and "long-arm jurisdiction" imposed by some Western countries on China and other countries in recent years seriously jeopardized the sovereignty and interests of other countries and threatened the international order and global development.

Citing Article 4 of the new Law on Foreign Relations, Huo noted the law showed China's firm determination to uphold the international system with the United Nations at its core and the international order based on international law.

Liu Renshan, vice president of Zhongnan Economics and Law, said China's emphasis on international law is different from the U.S.'s approach of putting its domestic law above international law to serve its purpose of establishing and maintaining global hegemony and power politics.

Experts said the Law on Foreign Relations sets out principles for countermeasures and restrictive measures against acts that threaten national sovereignty, security and development interests in violation of international law or fundamental norms governing international relations, thus establishing a basic legal framework for the extraterritorial application of Chinese law.

"What we opposed is the abuse of so-called 'long-arm jurisdiction,'" said Huang Huikang, a professor of the Institute of International Law of Wuhan University, adding that the newly passed law will better safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests in consideration of the reality of the expansion of China's national interests overseas.

Over recent years, China has stepped up efforts to upgrade its legal toolkit for meeting challenges and guarding against risks. In June 2021, for example, the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law was adopted and it immediately took effect.