China has amended its State Secrets Law to expand the coverage to high technology industries and improve security in areas near military sites.
The National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee on Tuesday revised its Law on Guarding State Secrets. The amendment, which will take effect on May 1, said the nation encourages and supports the research and application of new technologies that can help protect its secrecy science and technology.
“Currently, a new round of scientific and technological revolution is rapidly evolving,” An unnamed spokesperson of the National Administration of State Secrets Protection told Xinhua on Wednesday. “New technologies and applications such as big data, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence are emerging, resulting in higher requirements on self-reliance and self-reliance in information security technologies.”
He said the amended State Secrets Law will provide a legal basis for the protection of the intellectual property of information security product makers.
He said the revision can also strengthen the connection between the State Secrets Law and the Data Security Law.
Established in June 2021, the Data Security Law prohibits foreign judicial authorities from requesting data on Chinese citizens without first seeking permission from Chinese authorities.
Military facilities
Passed in 1988 and amended in 2010, the existing State Secrets Law forbids the unauthorized opening of military restricted and management areas, as well as other places with state secrets.
The amended law says government departments should strengthen their confidentiality management in areas surrounding classified military facilities and other important secret-related units.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s Central Military Commission will implement confidentiality work in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and People’s Armed Police (PAP) in accordance with the new law.
The spokesperson of the National Administration of State Secrets Protection said the latest amendment will send a message to the public that everyone in the country has the responsibility to protect state secrets.
“The amended State Secrets Law clarified that all aspects of the production, copying, publishing, and dissemination of online information must comply with it,” he said.
“Secondly, internet and network operators are required to report to the authorities promptly if they identify suspected leakage of state secrets,” he said. “They should also remove the related content from the internet and cooperate with the investigators.”
The amendment was announced on the same day when former Foreign Minister Qin Gang “resigned” from his position in the NPC Standing Committee.
Politico, which frequently publishes leaks from US intelligence services, said on December 6 that Qin had already died, either from suicide or torture, in a military hospital in Beijing in late July.
Citing two unnamed people with access to top Chinese officials, the report said Qin and relatives of top rocket force officers had helped pass Chinese nuclear secrets to Western intelligence agencies. The Chinese government has not yet commented on the report.
Some commentators said Beijing tried to use Qin’s “resignation” from his position in the NPC Standing Committee to dismiss the Politico report that the former top diplomat had died. But they said the public will be convinced only if Qin can appear in public.
Declassification
According to the existing law, China’s state secrets are classified as top secret, highly secret and just plain secrets and should be automatically declassified after 30, 20 and 10 years, respectively, if they were created after January 1, 1991.
But in real practice, the government has not yet declassified any of its classified political documents.
In June 2020, the National Administration of State Secrets Protection published a set of temporary rules about the declassification of state secrets to ensure the public right to know. It added that government units should consider the impact on national security and social stability when declassifying any state secrets.
In contrast, Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan last December amended its State Secrets Law to change the confidentiality period of 4,500 political documents from “indefinite” to 30 years. Due to this amendment, about half of these documents will be made public in 2024.
According to the amended law in Taiwan, a government department needs to give reasons to extend the confidentiality period of a classified document by 10 years. If a document has been kept in secret for 60 years, a government unit needs to seek an approval from its superior in order to further extend its confidentiality period.
‘Work secrets’
The latest amendment of China’s State Secrets Law also included a new section about the protection of unclassified information known as “work secrets,” a term that refers to the government’s internal documents and discussions related to policy formation.
The amended law says precautions taken for state secrets should also apply to “work secrets,” which are not state secrets but can result in an adverse impact if leaked.
Jens Eskelund, president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in Beijing, told Reuters on Wednesday that China’s increasing focus on national security has raised uncertainty for business.
He said the scope of “sensitive information” seems to be expanding, which makes it more difficult for foreign firms to access necessary information.
In 2020, the central government published a set of temporary regulations to protect “work secrets.” It urged local governments to implement them.
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