On July 10, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) — the country’s central Internet regulator — proposed draft cybersecurity review measures.
According to Article 6 of the draft, businesses that intend to be listed on foreign stock exchanges and possess the personal electronic information of more than 1 million customers must report for a review by the CAC.
The draft measures followed the agency’s announcements days earlier of cybersecurity reviews of China’s ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing, YMM-Full Truck Alliance Co, Guiyang Huochebang Technology Co and Boss Zhipin. The reviews of these four major platforms were based on the amendments, which had yet to be announced.
On July 9, just days after Didi launched an initial public offering in the US, the CAC ordered the removal of Didi’s apps from app stores in the country, along with 25 related apps, for “serious violations of laws and regulations” in its collection and use of personal information. This has highlighted that in China, enforcement comes first and legislation later.
Article 2 of the draft states: “Critical information infrastructure operators ... procuring network products and services and data handlers ... conducting data handling activities that influence or may influence national security should conduct a cybersecurity review according to these measures.”
This article clearly shows that the draft is not restricted to companies that intend to conduct listings in a foreign country or companies holding personal information of more than 1 million users.
Instead, operators conducting data handling activities that “influence or may influence” China’s national security are included.
What is the standard for determining what affects national security? Based on China’s culture of letting politics lead and law enforcement serve the overall situation, authorities are given much leeway in terms of administrative discretion. This is like holding a knife to the neck of businesses, and it carries great uncertainty.
The draft has empowered Chinese government agencies to launch cybersecurity reviews at any time of their choosing in the name of national security.
The result for Taiwanese businesses operating in China could be that they lose competitiveness by having to give up business secrets, and they could even become targets of fabricated charges.
Faced with this situation, Taiwanese businesspeople working in China should prepare to protect their business information and lessen the impact.
Yu Kung is a Taiwanese businessman working in China.
Translated by Eddy Chang
It is almost three years since Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a friendship with “no limits” — weeks before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Since then, they have retreated from such rhetorical enthusiasm. The “no limits” language was quickly dumped, probably at Beijing’s behest. When Putin visited China in May last year, he said that he and his counterpart were “as close as brothers.” Xi more coolly called the Russian president “a good friend and a good neighbor.” China has conspicuously not reciprocated Putin’s description of it as an ally. Yet the partnership
The ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu (孫子) said “know yourself and know your enemy and you will win a hundred battles.” Applied in our times, Taiwanese should know themselves and know the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) so that Taiwan will win a hundred battles and hopefully, deter the CCP. Taiwanese receive information daily about the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) threat from the Ministry of National Defense and news sources. One area that needs better understanding is which forces would the People’s Republic of China (PRC) use to impose martial law and what would be the consequences for living under PRC
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said that he expects this year to be a year of “peace.” However, this is ironic given the actions of some KMT legislators and politicians. To push forward several amendments, they went against the principles of legislation such as substantive deliberation, and even tried to remove obstacles with violence during the third readings of the bills. Chu says that the KMT represents the public interest, accusing President William Lai (賴清德) and the Democratic Progressive Party of fighting against the opposition. After pushing through the amendments, the KMT caucus demanded that Legislative Speaker
Although former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo — known for being the most pro-Taiwan official to hold the post — is not in the second administration of US president-elect Donald Trump, he has maintained close ties with the former president and involved himself in think tank activities, giving him firsthand knowledge of the US’ national strategy. On Monday, Pompeo visited Taiwan for the fourth time, attending a Formosa Republican Association’s forum titled “Towards Permanent World Peace: The Shared Mission of the US and Taiwan.” At the event, he reaffirmed his belief in Taiwan’s democracy, liberty, human rights and independence, highlighting a
RSS