The Ministry of State Security of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on Monday (April 26) announced the “Regulations on Counter-espionage Security Precautions” to mobilize the whole society to actively participate in counter-espionage operations and encourage reporting and exposing in response to the overall deterioration of the international environment between the CPC and Western countries.
Chinese Communist Party armed police stand guard on a Beijing street while security personnel with police dogs patrol. (File photo)
The regulations require “general units such as organs, organizations, enterprises and other social organizations” to do their part to prevent and protect against foreign espionage activities. The regulations shall come into effect on the date of publication.
Provisions also mentioned that for “the implementation of anti-spy security responsibility” there are problems with the relevant units, the state security agencies can “according to law ordered to rectify the deadline or according to law interview the person in charge, and urge the relevant units to rectify the problem, the implementation of responsibility.
According to the official media Xinhua News Agency, an official of the Ministry of State Security said that the regulations are a practical need to prevent and resolve national security risks and safeguard national security and interests.
The official said, “At present, overseas spy intelligence organs and various hostile forces have significantly intensified their infiltration and theft activities against me, with more diverse means and a wider range of fields, posing a serious threat to my national security and interests.”
The CPC also released a National Security Education Day propaganda film in mid-April and said that any organization or individual who discovers situations and clues that endanger national security can report them to security agencies by phone.
An employee at the headquarters of a central enterprise, who declined to be named, told the official Communist Party media Global Times on Monday that counter-espionage security has been stepped up for all personnel going abroad since Xi Jinping re-emphasized the importance of national security in 2019.
He said, “Employees who go on business trips abroad, such as to the Five Eyes Alliance countries, are told to strictly report their travel destinations, schedules and meetings with foreign personnel, and their requests must be approved by their immediate superiors before headquarters can review them.”
According to CNN, Malcolm Davis, a senior China foreign policy analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), said Beijing “wants to put commercial companies, universities, media and think tanks more under government control to monitor and report on the activities of Western entities operating in China As a result, it makes it more challenging for Western companies to do business in China,” he said.
He added: “It remains to be seen to what extent these regulations will be enforced outside of China so that Chinese companies and entities and individuals will have to comply with them even if they are operating outside of China.”
Communist Party Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said Tuesday that the Regulations on Counterintelligence Security Precautions are based primarily on the State Security Law of the People’s Republic of China and the Counterintelligence Law of the People’s Republic of China and its implementing regulations. He added: “National security is an important cornerstone for the stability of the country, and maintaining national security is in the fundamental interest of all the people of the nation.”
Bloomberg reported that the regulations were issued at a time of growing tension between the Communist Party and the West, as Washington seeks to counter Beijing’s growing economic and security influence. The Communist Party’s Ministry of State Security has played a central role in this fight, most notably in the detention and prosecution of two Canadians.
Chinese Communist authorities arrested Canadian citizens Michael Kovrig (known as Kang Mingkai in Chinese) and Michael Spavor on Dec. 10, 2018, and charged them in June 2020 with “spying on state secrets and intelligence for foreign countries” and The two men were formally charged in June 2020 with “spying on state secrets and intelligence for foreign countries” and “stealing and illegally providing state secrets for foreign countries,” respectively. Chinese Communist authorities also held secret court hearings for the two Canadian citizens in March.
The U.S. intelligence community also identified the Communist Party’s efforts to expand its growing influence as one of the greatest threats to the United States in a report released in April, adding that the Communist Party is an increasingly powerful competitor that can match U.S. power.
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