China’s spies to get far-reaching powers with few limits in new draft law
Proposed legislation gives a legal foundation to the sweeping powers of Beijing’s intelligence agencies
China has released a draft intelligence law aimed at providing a legal foundation for the country’s spy operations, the latest legislative effort by Beijing to fortify national security against perceived threats at home and abroad.
The draft law, published on the website of top legislature the National People’s Congress on Tuesday to solicit public feedback, stipulates that China’s public security, state security and military are in charge of the country’s intelligence services. It authorises them to conduct intelligence activity “both within and outside national borders” and to investigate foreign and domestic individuals or institutions deemed harmful to national security.
Since President Xi Jinping took power four and a half years ago, a slew of new laws have been passed to deal with security challenges, including a national security law, an anti-terrorism law in 2015 and a counter-espionage law in 2014.
Xi himself chairs the powerful national security committee he founded in 2013, which oversees issues ranging from cybersecurity to unrest in Xinjiang.
The latest intelligence law is formulated to “strengthen and ensure state intelligence work and safeguard national security and interests”, according to the draft on the NPC’s website.
“The new laws reinforce the centrality and supremacy of the Party in matters of preserving Communist Party rule and to ensure the stability of China’s domestic environment,” said Benjamin Ho, a expert on national security and intelligence at the at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.