China redoubles national security efforts by expanding Official Secrets Law

BEIJING – China is strengthening national security measures by expanding protection of state secrets to include a broad category of “working secrets.”

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday signed a decree officially adopting amendments to the law on “Guardian of state secrets.” According to state media, which reported that lawmakers passed the updated law at a meeting earlier in the day.

New rulesThe law, which goes into effect May 1, describes how safeguards taken regarding state secrets must also apply to unclassified information, known as operational secrets. The law broadly defines work secrets as information that could lead to “adverse impact” in the event of a leak, and said specific measures would be published separately.

This work secrets article is “the most problematic,” said Jeremy Daum, a senior fellow at Yale Law School’s Paul Tsai China Center.

“There is a risk that individual departments will be overzealous in calling these issues ‘trade secrets,’” Daum said. He also founded the website China Law Translate, which published an unofficial English translation. translation of new rules.

“This limits the public’s right to know and also exposes people to potential liability.”

Although China regularly discloses a certain amount of information about government plans and economic data, the country is often seen as more opaque than many developed countries.

For example, high-ranking officials in China have disappeared from public view without official explanation. Policies, even those that support businesses, do not always have specific implementation dates.

Last year, China’s new espionage and foreign policy laws included catch-all phrases such as “state secrets” that were left open to interpretation by authorities. Separate rules regarding what data foreign businesses in China can send out of the country do not yet provide formal clarity on what qualifies as “sensitive data” and is therefore subject to export restrictions.

“For foreign businesses, the lack of clarity will remain an incalculable risk to doing business in China,” Daum said.

“Adding job secrets and mentioning information that only becomes classified when combined with other information all raise concerns that someone might accidentally breach classified information,” he said.

“However, in practice, protection of state secrets previously extended to seemingly innocuous situations, and foreign business still remained.”

The updated official secrets law comes as Beijing and Washington increasingly cite national security risks when announcing new business restrictions.

“The new law will reinforce the general view among the foreign business community that the Chinese leadership’s concerns about national security have complicated the country’s operating environment,” said Gabriel Wildau, managing director of consultancy Teneo.

“China’s economic growth prospects remain a key factor influencing foreign investment decisions, but the secrecy law adds another constraint,” he said.

According to China Law Translate’s rules, state secrets are defined as information that, if leaked, “could harm” China’s security and interests in politics, economics, national defense, foreign relations, technology and other fields.

The law also maintained restrictions on the travel abroad of persons who currently or recently worked with state secrets.

“I don’t know if their scope will be significantly expanded as a result of the amendments, but the holistic view of national security, a theme running through this law and other recent security legislation, tends to create some barriers to travel,” Daum said.

“An Anti-Espionage Policy document published several years ago required a wide range of people traveling for professional purposes to undergo security briefings before departure.”

The final version of the law “Protection of State Secrets” has been discussed in the government for several months.

The revised law provides “a strong legal guarantee to better protect national sovereignty, security and development interests,” said Li Zhaozong, director of the Central Security Administration and the National Administration for the Protection of State Secrets. wrote Wednesday in an article published by People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party. This is according to a CNBC translation.

Lee noted the importance of disclosing information that should be made public, ensuring confidentiality when necessary. The article did not mention the secrets of the work.

The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress adopted the final version of the updated State Secrets Law after reviewing round of improvements in October. The law was originally passed in 1988.

Daum noted that many of the changes in the new rules are “updates of new technology and style changes.”

“The law provides clarity in some areas by limiting management’s liability in some cases and providing compensation to individuals whose rights have been limited due to secrecy requirements,” he added.

China’s National People’s Congress is set to begin its annual meeting next week, during which the country’s top leaders will release their economic plans and outlook and outline key policy directions.