China has passed a wide-ranging update to Beijing's anti-espionage legislation on Wednesday, banning the transfer of any information related to national security, and interests and broadening the definition of spying.
China's Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) passed a revised Counter-Espionage Law, the official Xinhua news agency reported, following three days of deliberations by the top legislative body.
It is the first update of the law since 2014 and according to China's National Radio, will be effective from July 1.
Since taking power in 2012, Chinese President Xi Jinping has made national security a key focus of his administration, stressing during China's annual legislative sessions last month that "security is the bedrock of development".
Though the NPC has yet to release the full text of the law, the China News Service (CNS) reported that "documents, data, materials, and items related to national security and interests" will come under the same protection as state secrets following the revisions.
The law does not define what falls under China's national security or interests.
It expands the definition of espionage to include cyber attacks against state organs or critical information infrastructure, CNS reported.
The revised law will allow authorities carrying out an anti-espionage investigation to gain access to data, information on personal property and also to ban border crossings, CNS said.
In recent years, China has detained dozens of Chinese and foreign nationals on suspicion of espionage, such as an executive at Japanese drugmaker Astellas Pharma who was detained in Beijing last month.
Espionage cases are usually tried in secret due to their links to national security.
Expert warns law can be used against dissidents
Teng Biao is a former human rights lawyer in China and a visiting Professor of Law at the University of Chicago.
He told the ABC the law would raise the risk of abuse, since it does not define terms like "espionage organisations and their agents," "enemies," and "national security" clearly or definitively.
He said, although it was normal for governments to make laws that criminalise espionage, he was worried about ambiguity in the revisions.
"In practice, for example, criticising the government could be considered to endanger 'national security' and get sentenced as a crime like 'inciting subversion of state power'," Mr Teng said.
"In fact, it [the state] is deliberately taking advantage of this legal ambiguity, and in practice, it can be used against dissidents at will.
"It [the revisions] expands the scope of application of the previous Counter-Espionage Law."
Last year, China introduced new policies that allow for rewards of up to 100,000 yuan ($20,765) and special certificates for Chinese individuals who provide tip-offs about "acts against national security".
According to a ministry representative, citizens can report "acts against national security" both inside and outside China through a hotline, website, by post, in-person, or any other means.
ABC/Reuters
