At a time when relations between the Chinese Communist authorities and major Western countries, particularly the United States, are becoming increasingly tense and confrontational, the Communist Party’s state security department recently issued “regulations on counter-espionage security,” which mobilize all of society to actively participate in “counter-espionage” operations, encourage whistle-blowing, and allow the state security department to draw up lists of companies and organizations deemed vulnerable to foreign infiltration and require them to take security measures against what it calls “hostile forces. The regulations allow the state security department to draw up lists of companies and organizations deemed vulnerable to foreign infiltration and require them to take security measures against what it calls “hostile forces.
Highlights of Counterintelligence Security Precautions
The Ministry of State Security, which has been expanding its power in Communist Party politics in recent years, announced on April 26 the “Counterintelligence Security Precautions Regulations,” which require “general units such as organs, organizations, enterprises and other social organizations” to do their part to prevent and protect against foreign espionage activities.
According to Xinhua News Agency, an official of the Ministry of State Security said that the current foreign espionage and intelligence agencies and various hostile forces have significantly intensified their infiltration and theft activities in China, with more diverse means and a wider range of fields, posing a serious threat to national security and interests. The formulation of regulations is a practical need to prevent and resolve national security risks and safeguard national security and interests.
Previously, officials had released a National Security Education Day propaganda film in mid-April, asking any organization or individual who finds situations and clues that endanger national security to report them to security agencies by phone.
The Global Times, a subsidiary of the Communist Party’s mouthpiece People’s Daily that often promotes nationalist sentiments, quoted an employee of a central enterprise as saying that since Xi Jinping re-emphasized the importance of national security in 2019, counter-espionage security has been stepped up for all personnel traveling abroad, especially for business trips to the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, the five countries that make up the intelligence-sharing ” In particular, business trips to the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, the five countries that form the “Five Eyes Alliance,” are subject to strict reporting and approval of travel destinations, schedules and meetings with foreign personnel.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on April 27 that the “counter-espionage security regulations” are based on the National Security Law and the Anti-espionage Law and its implementing regulations, which regulate counter-espionage security, and that national security is an important cornerstone of the state.
Designed to strengthen technology and prevent the leak of secrets
Taiwan KMT legislator and former Army deputy commander Wu Shih-huai said that the promulgation of counter-espionage regulations by the Chinese Communist Party’s national security department is the latest manifestation of the U.S.-China tug of war. In the face of the U.S. siege on the CCP in some high-end technologies and products, the CCP is vigorously strengthening its own high-tech offensive while hoping to prevent secrets from leaking out.
He said: “The real threat of the Chinese Communist Party to the United States is actually in the high-tech, weapons part. This part of it (the United States) now exhausted all methods to make the Chinese Communist Party progress more slowly. When mainland China offers this way to develop high-tech core skills in a big way, we have to prevent multinational companies, especially in Europe and the United States, the United States mainly to spy on their progress, or the energy of their current attack.”
Wu Sihuai also said that in recent years, the Chinese Communist Party has made some so-called “spy cases” involving the two sides of the Taiwan Strait and other countries, basically for political speculation, not the real meaning of espionage activities. The new anti-espionage rules are intended to further tighten control internally, warning high-tech companies and employees not to disclose “state secrets.
He said, “Internally, it also gives the people of mainland China, especially those engaged in high-tech enterprises, or these employees and workers, a warning that you do not disclose state secrets, you do not leak these secrets to foreign manufacturers.”
Matthew Brazil, a China expert and fellow at the Jamestown Foundation, a U.S. think tank, has worked for many years in security and investigations in the U.S. government and private sector, and in 2019 published the book “Chinese Communist Spies,” which he co-authored.
Speaking to VOA, Matt Brazil said that while the “counterintelligence security regulations” were influenced in part by the state of U.S.-China relations, he was not surprised as a researcher because they provide specific implementation guidelines for the CCP’s national security agencies based on the relevant laws, as well as for the activities required by the CCP’s national security and for corporate actions. They also provide specific content for the activities and corporate actions required by the CCP’s national security.
According to Michael Bao, currently a contributing editor to Spytalk, one of the purposes of these very detailed and specific regulations is to strengthen control, so that people, businesses and government agencies understand the CCP’s intentions and demand compliance.
A key element of Communist rule since 1949 has been to present guidelines to the masses and demand their voluntary compliance,” he said. In the era of ‘rule of law,’ as the CCP likes to say, presenting such detailed regulations requires the public to behave in accordance with the intent of the CCP’s national security law and related laws, reinforces the CCP’s regulations and procedures, and identifies ‘foreign infiltration’ and other problems. “
Whether it affects foreign companies remains to be seen
Baomingde also said he did not see the regulation directly refer to foreign companies in China, that the regulations are primarily aimed at Chinese companies and entities, and that it is unclear whether or how foreign companies in China will be affected.
On the face of it, there’s nothing that affects foreign companies,” he said. If you search for foreign companies or related terms, for example, there doesn’t appear to be anything involving foreign businesses. At this point, it appears that the regulations are aimed at Chinese companies. But that’s not to say that the situation won’t change, that the regulations won’t make adjustments, or that the interpretation of the regulations won’t move toward looking at foreign merchants.”
Bao added that, in fact, the Chinese Communist Party has always had a way of spying on and controlling foreign businesses in China over security issues. It has been using its own people in foreign businesses, and even most diplomatic missions in China, to observe and understand, ask questions, and relay the will of the authorities to foreign parties, among other things. Baomingde believes that the Chinese Communist Party may prefer to continue this decades-old approach so as not to scare away foreign companies.
Baomingde said foreign companies have always faced uncertainty in doing business in China because the Communist Party’s policies can change at any time and introduce regulations that surprise foreign businesses.
There is always uncertainty,” he said. Since they [the Chinese Communist Party] secretly started counterintelligence operations in 2014, there have been similar step-by-step developments, and the situation is getting tighter and tighter step by step. The latest counterintelligence regulations are the latest development in a series of such measures.”
Although the business environment in China has not been as easy and predictable in recent years as it was 20 years ago, Michael Pao advised foreign businesses in China not to panic. He said an annual survey by the National Council for U.S.-China Trade found that U.S. companies in China feel less welcome than in previous years, with companies asked by China to transfer technology rising from 5 percent in 2019 to 13 percent in 2020. But despite these problems, 80 percent of companies in China are still profitable.
Michael Bauer emphasized that the risks of doing business in China are growing, so foreign companies need to be prepared to take precautions. Businesses must not only be alert to the risks we can see, but also keep in mind that if there is a real crisis, they must be ready to respond,” he said. Be prepared to have contingencies in place that are coordinated by their legal, personnel and business departments. They must be prepared should there be a real crisis in the U.S.-China relationship.”
Foreign companies’ operations in China more challenging
Malcolm Davis, senior China foreign policy analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), was quoted by CNN as saying that Beijing wants to bring 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 operate in China.
Bloomberg said the new counterintelligence rules come at a time of growing tensions between China and the West, and as the United States tries to counter Beijing’s growing economic and security threats. China’s Ministry of State Security has played a central role in the confrontation, most notably in the detention and prosecution of two Canadians in retaliation for the arrest of Meng Wanzhou, Huawei’s former chief financial officer, in Canada. The U.S. has accused Meng of involvement in bank fraud involving sanctions against Iran and has asked Canada to assist in the arrest and extradition.
The Communist Party of China arrested Canadian citizens Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor on December 10, 2018, and in June 2020, on charges of “spying on state secrets and intelligence for foreign countries” and The two men were indicted on charges of “stealing and unlawfully providing state secrets for foreign purposes” and held a secret trial in March of this year.
On April 13, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released the 2021 Annual Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence System. This is the first threat assessment of the U.S. intelligence system since Biden moved into the White House, and it puts China at the top of the threat list.
Around April 15, China’s “National Security Education Day,” the official media exposed a number of high-profile cases related to damage to national security, most of which this year were related to demonstrations in Hong Kong. Among the cases announced by the media, the one that received the most attention was the case of a Chinese man named Henry Li, 66, a former vice president of a Shanghai real estate company who was accused of being “the money man behind anti-China activists.
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