China adds world’s biggest energy sector to anti-spy push
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China's National Energy Administration has called for more inspections and investigations to ensure confidentiality in the country's energy sector.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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BEIJING – China extended its anti-espionage push to the energy sector, calling for companies and agencies to halt leaks of information in industries including nuclear power and oil.
Foreign forces are collecting data and information to interfere with China’s efforts to ensure energy security and to distort its planning for a green transition, the National Energy Administration said in a statement on Wednesday. The agency called for more inspections and investigations to ensure confidentiality, and to increase punishment for violations.
The announcement follows a broader push to restrict public information and expand anti-espionage laws as President Xi Jinping grows more wary of the United States and its allies.
China is the world’s largest energy producer and consumer, mining and burning more than half the world’s coal, importing more oil and gas than any other country, and constructing the largest fleet of solar panels and wind turbines.
While information about those endeavours is not as readily available as in places like the US and Europe, government agencies and research firms still regularly report data that allows companies, investors and academics to keep tabs on trends vital to global trade flows and the fight against climate change.
Beijing has been known to clamp down on energy information during times of heightened sensitivity. In 2020, a coal industry group stopped publishing daily consumption data that investors were using as a real-time indicator of the nation’s economic rebound from Covid-19. Coal price reporting was restricted after a shortage led to soaring costs and power crunches in 2021. BLOOMBERG
