Beijing enlists the ‘masses’ in counterintelligence
China plans to set up channels to let people report suspicious activities. Masses participating in defence operations will be the new normal. A recently expanded law makes it easier to go after foreign companies involved in regular business activities. Meanwhile, President Xi wants China’s military to speed up their modernisation.
Beijing (AsiaNews) – The People's Republic of China wants its citizens to engage in counterintelligence activities. To this end, the authorities are planning to provide people with the means to report suspicious activities and praise those who work for the homeland.
In its first post on its new WeChat account yesterday, China’s Ministry of Public Security notes that such a system would make it normal for the masses to defend the state.
The Ministry, which runs the country’s main foreign intelligence and counterintelligence agency, wants to make spying and monitoring everyone's task in accordance with an expanded counter-espionage law that took effect last month.
The revised law outlaws the transfer of information that touches national security and interests but does not specify the nature of such information. This has set off alarm bells in the United States over the possible jeopardy foreign companies face in China even when conducting regular business activities.
As it now stands, the law gives the authorities the power to carry out counterintelligence probes, including gaining access to data, electronic equipment, and information on personal property.
Political security is the top national security priority of China's regime, Minister of State Security Chen Yixin wrote in an article in a Chinese legal magazine last month.
“The most fundamental [goal] is to safeguard the leadership and ruling position of the Communist Party of China and the socialist system with Chinese characteristics," Chen said.
In recent years, scores of Chinese citizens and foreign nationals have been arrested and detained on suspicion of espionage, including an executive with Japanese drugmaker Astellas Pharma in March.
Chinese-born Australian journalist Cheng Lei has been detained since September 2020 after he was accused of providing state secrets to another country.
China’s mass espionage mobilisation comes as Western countries, starting with the United States, accuse Beijing of espionage and cyberattacks. In a quick reply, China’s Foreign Ministry describe the United States as the “empire of hacking”.
For Chinese leaders like Minister Chen, China needs its people to build a line of defence to protect itself.
Similarly, Chinese President Xi Jinping, speaking on the eve of the 96th anniversary of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), said that China's armed forces must speed up modernisation.
The president urged the military to boost its combat capability and readiness, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
This is crucial in light of rising tensions in the Asia-Pacific region, the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait, with the United States clearly in mind.
“We need to push for new equipment and new forces to accelerate forming combat capabilities and integrate into the combat system," Xi added.
This year, Beijing has repeatedly flexed its military muscles by intensifying drills and exercises, announcing that its third and most advanced aircraft carrier will soon begin sea trials, and tightening military relations with Russia.
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21/04/2023
