BEIJING - China approved a newly revised anti-espionage law as President Xi Jinping seeks to bolster national security amid a range of tensions with the United States.
The law was approved during a Standing Committee meeting of the National People’s Congress (NPC) on Wednesday, and will take effect on July 1, according to a notice on the NPC website.
Mr Xi has used his decade in power to emphasise security concerns as friction with the US increased over issues including Taiwan, the treatment of minorities in Xinjiang and, more recently, China’s tech ambitions.
In an address to a major Communist Party congress, Mr Xi mentioned “security” more times than “economy” – the first time that has happened in the key policy statement since the party took power in 1949.
China has also stepped up arrests of foreigners suspected of spying. In March, China detained an employee of Japanese drugmaker Astellas Pharma on suspicion of espionage. Five Japanese nationals have been found guilty by China of endangering national security since 2015, according to the Mainichi newspaper.
Beijing and Washington have sparred over claims of cyber snooping, with China becoming more direct in naming American agencies as perpetrators. The US has blamed China for widespread industrial espionage to “ransack” American companies, in addition to national security-related operations.
Mr Zang Tiewei, a spokesman for NPC’s legislative affairs commission, said at a news briefing last week that the existing legal definition for espionage activities was “too narrow” and prevention measures were insufficient.
“The current situation for counter-espionage struggle is extremely grim as traditional and untraditional security threats are intertwined,” Mr Zang was cited by state media as saying. “Various espionage activities are becoming more complex in more areas and targets more diverse, with measures increasingly covert.”
It is unclear what changes the NPC made to the anti-espionage law, which dates back to 2014. The official Legal Daily newspaper reported on Tuesday that the definition of spying activities would be changed to include cyber attacks targeting state organs and critical information infrastructure.
A draft of the amendment released in December said that Internet service providers would be required to provide technical support for the authorities in counter-espionage efforts and report on potential problems.
US intelligence agents gained control of parts of China’s telecommunications network after hacking into a government-funded university, the state-backed Global Times reported in 2022.
The National Security Agency’s cyber-warfare unit gained remote access to telecom operators’ core networks through an e-mail phishing attack on a leading university, the newspaper added, citing officials. The US has denied the allegations. BLOOMBERG
