Beijing Tightens Regulations To Protect Its Secrets

 

"SINGAPORE -- China's government is tightening its rules on the protection of confidential information, including intensified scrutiny on international travel by people privy to state secrets, as concerns about espionage rise amid an increase in global tensions.

The changes also put a heavier burden on the country's internet companies to stop leaks of sensitive information.

Published this week, the new regulations offer direction to authorities in implementing China's state-secrets law, which was updated in February as part of Chinese leader Xi Jinping's efforts to shore up safeguards against threats to national security.

The changes require state agencies to draft lists of state secrets related to their areas of responsibility. The agencies also are required to ensure that personnel who handle classified information get permission and undergo confidentiality training before traveling abroad.

All entities defined as "network operators" -- a category that includes internet companies and network-infrastructure vendors -- must establish mechanisms for detecting and dealing with leaks of confidential information and other secrecy breaches, according to the new regulations. They must cooperate with authorities in investigations and regulatory actions related to state secrets.

"State secrets have become increasingly digitalized and networked, and the risks of leaks and thefts have become more diverse and hidden," officials from China's Justice Ministry and the National Administration of State Secrets Protection told the government-run Xinhua News Agency. "The struggle between theft and antitheft has steadily manifested as competition and confrontation in scientific and technological capabilities."

Many of the new provisions reinforce existing practices. Foreign travel by Communist Party and government officials already faces tight scrutiny, and internet companies are accustomed to scrubbing sensitive information from their platforms.

The updated rules nevertheless underscore a sweeping counterespionage campaign Xi has launched to tighten the country's defenses amid intensifying geopolitical competition with the U.S. and other Western powers. Within its borders, Beijing has waged a publicity campaign to urge public vigilance against efforts to steal state secrets.

The revised regulations take effect on Sept. 1. Under the new rules, authorities can order network operators to take remedial actions on matters related to state secrets, as well as impose financial penalties on entities and individuals that don't perform their duties in protecting secrets and stopping leaks. Network operators can be fined as much as 500,000 yuan, or about $69,000; individuals can be fined up to 100,000 yuan." [1]

1. World News: Beijing Tightens Regulations To Protect Its Secrets. Chun Han Wong.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 25 July 2024: A.16.