Territorial Application of China's Criminal Law

Khuan Yusin PhD in Law Postgraduate Student, Department of Criminal Law, Baikal State University 664003, Russia, Irkutskaya oblast', g. G. Irkutsk, ul. Baikal'skaya, 11, of. g. Irkutsk, ul. Baikal'skaya, d. 346, kv. 67 yuxinghuang1@gmail.com

Spatial effect of the criminal law.

The globalization of the modern world makes it relevant to study the legislative experience (including criminal law) of foreign states. The task of the Criminal Code of the People's Republic of China (Criminal Code of the People's Republic of China) is to combat all crimes in order to protect state security, the power of the people's democratic dictatorship of the people and the socialist system, the protection of state and collective property of the Chinese peoples, private property and personal rights of citizens, and so on ^{[1, p. 76]}. At the same time, criminal law is connected with the personal freedom of citizens, life and death of life and property, and the legislative concept of prudence must always be respected. Over the past 40 years, criminal law legislation has always been closely linked to the general situation in the PRC party and the country, adapted to rapid economic and social development and changes, and effectively guaranteed a smooth course of reforms and openness. With the constant progress and deepening of reforms and openness, criminal law has also been constantly improved and gradually modernized. The history of the formation, revision and addition of criminal law is evidence of the great progress of reforms and openness, as well as the constant strengthening of China's legal system. It testifies to the great achievements achieved in ensuring the rule of law and the protection of human rights. With the development of society and the improvement of social civilization, the tolerance of people to certain illegal actions also changes ^{[4, p. 128]}. Defining a particular type of behavior as a crime has different answers at different times. In the past, some acts classified as crimes did not comply with the modesty of the criminal law. Therefore, criminal legislation cannot serve as an excuse, all refusals must take into account changes in social conditions. Article 2 of the Criminal Code of the People's Republic of China states: "The task of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China is to apply criminal punishment to combat all criminal acts in order to ensure national security, the regime of the People's democratic dictatorship and the socialist system, state property and property, collectively belonging to the working masses, personal rights, democratic rights and other rights of citizens, maintaining public order and the economic system, the smooth course of socialist construction" ^[9].

The effect of China's criminal law in space.

The spatial effect of criminal law refers to the influence of criminal law on solving problems of the scope of criminal jurisdiction. The Criminal Code of the People's Republic of China defines that the principle of "the operation of criminal law in space", taking the territory as a criterion, applies to all crimes committed on the territory of the country, whether by Chinese citizens or foreigners ^{[2, p. 156]}. The territorial principle, also known as territorial jurisdiction, is the most basic principle concerning the spatial impact of criminal law, and within the territorial scope, regardless of whether it is a citizen or a foreigner who commits a crime, the criminal law of a sovereign State should apply. It is generally accepted that this law applies to any crime committed on the territory of the People's Republic of China, unless otherwise provided by law. This Law also applies to any person who commits a crime on board a ship or aircraft of the People's Republic of China.

If a citizen of the People's Republic of China commits a crime provided for by this Law, this Law applies outside the territory of the People's Republic of China, but if the maximum penalty provided for by this Law is imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years, he cannot be held accountable. This Law applies to civil servants and military personnel of the People's Republic of China who have committed crimes provided for by this Law outside the territory of the People's Republic of China ^{[3, p. 88]}.

If a foreigner commits a crime against the State or a citizen of the People's Republic of China outside the territory of the People's Republic of China, and the minimum penalty provided for by this Law is imprisonment for a period of at least three years, this Law may be applied, except in cases where there is no punishment in accordance with the legislation of the place where the crime was committed ^{[5, p. 172]}.

This Law applies to crimes provided for in international treaties concluded by the People's Republic of China or acceded to them, if the People's Republic of China exercises criminal jurisdiction within the framework of contractual obligations that it has assumed ^{[6, p. 112]}.

In order to understand the content of the operation of this law, we will give some examples that will help to understand this aspect. For example, on January 14, 2019. The Intermediate People's Court of Dalian, Liaoning Province held an open trial in the case of the Canadian defendant Robert Lloyd Schellenberg on drug smuggling in accordance with the law and passed a verdict in court, sentencing the defendant Schellenberg to death for drug smuggling and confiscation of all personal property ^{[7, p. 88]}. This is a typical principle of territorial jurisdiction, since Schellenberg's criminal drug smuggling activities in China fall under the jurisdiction of Chinese criminal law. Another example is the "Mekong massacre" that shocked the world that year, during which more than a dozen Chinese sailors on a Chinese ship were brutally murdered, and the main culprit in this case, Nau Kham, was finally executed by injection in Kunming, Yunnan Province. All this may reflect that China's criminal law has jurisdiction over violations and crimes committed by foreigners against Chinese in China, as well as for foreigners who commit illegal crimes against Chinese ^{[8, p. 99]}.

Suspects of crimes in the "Zhang Yingying case" cannot be extradited to China for trial. This is due to the fact that according to the principle of reciprocity, China enjoys the principle of territorial jurisdiction, and the United States also enjoys the principle of territorial jurisdiction, so in criminal cases in the United States, the United States also has the right to jurisdiction, just like the "Jiang Ge Liu Xin case" of that year, the case was finally considered by Japan in Japan. It also gives a huge number of Chinese citizens studying and traveling abroad a wake-up call, and they should protect themselves well abroad.

In response to the above problems, some scientists, analyzing court documents on relevant criminal cases, note that the spatial principle (Article 6 of the Criminal Code of the People's Republic of China) and China's national sovereignty are interrelated, and the degree of sovereignty is as wide as the spatial effectiveness of criminal law ^{[10, p. 7]}.

As a manifestation of sovereignty, criminal jurisdiction can function only within the framework of sovereignty. Foreigners who violate the law can also be prosecuted. In modern criminal law, the scope of sovereignty is as wide as the scope of criminal law can be ^{[10, p. 8]}.

In conclusion, I would like to note that the operation of the criminal law in space, taking the territory as a criterion, applies to all crimes committed on the territory of the country. The principle of territoriality, that is, based on the criterion of territory, this Law applies to all crimes committed on the territory of China, whether by a citizen or a foreigner. Conversely, this law does not apply to crimes committed outside the territory of the State.