Link to Article: China orders companies to step up monitoring of foreigners in anti-spying push
Chinese social groups, enterprises, and public entities will have increased responsibility to combat foreign espionage under new regulations issued by the country’s ministry of state security. The regulations, which were released and took effect on Monday, come amid deepening hostilities between China and some western governments, including over the detention of foreigners accused of national security crimes. According to state media, state security will work with other government departments to “adjust” the list of groups susceptible to foreign espionage and to develop measures to safeguard against it, including the Chinese Communist Party and state organs, social groups, enterprises, and the public institutions.
The new regulation “places emphasis on companies and institutions taking precautionary measures against foreign espionage,” Li Wei, an expert on national security and anti-terrorism at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, told the state media outlet, the Global Times on Monday. Chinese authorities have arrested a number of foreigners on national security or espionage charges in recent years, prompting condemnation from their governments and accusations the detentions were instead instances of “hostage diplomacy”.
Two Canadian nationals, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor have been held since 2018 and went on trial last month. Their cases are believed to be retaliation for Canada’s arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou under a US extradition warrant. Australian nationals Yang Hengjun and Cheng Lei are also currently detained. Yang, a writer, and blogger were charged with endangering national security by joining or accepting a mission from an unidentified espionage organization but has maintained he is innocent throughout more than 300 interrogations. Lei, a news anchor for state broadcaster CGTN, has been detained for eight months, “on suspicion of illegally providing state secrets to foreign forces”. Australia was “not privy to evidence” supporting the charge, foreign affairs minister Marise Payne said in February.