China lawmakers pass export control law protecting tech

China passed a new law on Saturday to restrict sensitive exports to protect national security, helping Beijing gain reciprocity against U.S. as tech tensions mount.The country’s top legislative body, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, adopted the measure that applies to all companies in China, including foreign-invested ones, according to state broadcaster CCTV. The law will be effective Dec. 1, it said, without providing further details. Souring ties between China and the U.S. had led Washington to take action against several Chinese companies including Huawei Technologies Co., ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok app, Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s WeChat and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. The new law provides a framework for Beijing to better fight back.

While its existing control list is much narrower than the one used by the U.S., the country’s commerce ministry made an amendment in August that included technology such as algorithms and drones. The list could be further expanded to include even more products and technologies.

Whether Beijing will allow the export of valuable Chinese technology is one of the biggest uncertainties hovering over the partial sale of TikTok to Oracle Corp. and American investors. China in August asserted the right to block the deal by adding speech recognition and recommendation technology—the core of TikTok’s global popularity—to a list of regulated exports.