The legislation now bans the transfer of any information relating to national security and broadens the definition of spying, as Chinese President Xi Jinping stresses the need to build a “new security architecture”.
Speaking to Lusa, on a recent visit to Beijing, Chinese law specialist Jeremy Daum highlighted the “vague” language and the will of the authorities, “now much stronger”, to apply the Counterespionage Law.
“The letter of the law is not that important: the [Chinese] authorities have never lacked a legal basis to act,” said Center for China researcher Paul Tsai, of the Yale University School of Law.
“But now there is clearly a lot more will to enforce legislation and so we feel the environment is tightening”, he noted.
Daum fears that the legislation will “make contact between Chinese citizens and foreigners even more difficult”.
“Even if that’s not the purpose: the lack of clarity lends an air of suspicion to any contact,” he noted.
“I am happy, as a researcher, that on this visit [to Beijing], many of my old Chinese friends have shown great willingness to meet with me. But, I don’t know how easy it’s going to be to make new friends,” he noted.
Daum admitted that “there is now a calculation, a cost-benefit analysis, in contact with foreigners”.
This is the case of an employee of a Chinese government agency in charge of attracting foreign investment, who chose not to be identified, and who told Lusa that he now has to ask for authorization and clarify the reason before meeting with foreign entities, as happened recently, during a meeting with the chamber of commerce of a European country.
“Contacts have become more regulated and restricted”, he pointed out.
Growing geopolitical frictions between China and the West have also led to changes in perceptions about the outside world.
This week, the Chinese Ministry of State Security called for the mobilization of “the whole of society” in order to “prevent and combat espionage”.
The ministry indicated that all state bodies and social organizations, companies and institutions have an obligation to prevent and prevent espionage and “protect national security”.
The organization said it will make phone numbers and mailboxes available to citizens to receive complaints, “ensuring the secrecy” of informants.
Chinese law already provided for heavy punishments, including the death penalty, for those who participate in espionage operations.
Last May, a 78-year-old US citizen was sentenced to life in prison on espionage charges.
In the same month, Chinese police entered the offices of two consulting firms, Bain & Co. and Capvision, and a due diligence firm, Mintz Group. Authorities offered no explanation, saying only that foreign companies are required to comply with the law.
In China, the “leading role” of the Communist Party (CPC), which has ruled the country since 1949, is a “cardinal principle”, with the judicial system subordinated to political power. Notions such as the separation of powers and the independence of the judiciary form part of the West’s “wrong ideology”, which must be fought.
Jeremy Daum considered that the amendment that came into force in July is not intended to bring the legislation closer to the parameters of a rule of law, but rather to make it even more “imprecise and flexible”.
“An important point of the amendment is: if you share something that is not labeled a state secret, but which you should know is a state secret, you are also subject to punishment,” he explained.
The expert said that another point of concern is that, according to the amendment, it is not only considered espionage “to participate, be an agent or accept tasks, but also to align with a spy agency”.
“What does ‘align with’ mean? It’s a vague term. It’s not a legal term.”
