Many Chinese are living in fear because of Beijing’s new Counter-Espionage Law, and heightened political risks in the country are set to accelerate the pace of foreign investors leaving China, a political observer said yesterday.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the observer cited an article posted by the Chinese Ministry of State Security on WeChat on Tuesday last week that called for all people to join the government’s counterespionage initiative.
Those who report spies or make major contributions to counterespionage operations should be recognized, rewarded and protected, the observer said.
Photo: Reuters
Civilians who report spies or provide leads for espionage investigations can be rewarded with 100,000 to 500,000 yuan (US$13,856 to US$69,282), based on a system implemented by Beijing in April 2017, they said.
For four consecutive days last week, the Ministry of State Affairs published national security-related articles, they said.
Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council found that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has used espionage and other national security charges to arrest, indict and restrict the movement of foreign individuals, the observer said.
“Beijing always has a final say about the collection of data within a reasonable range in an academic exchange. It can also determine the types of democratic ideals that could threaten national security,” they said.
For example, a Taiwanese university professor was invited to China last month for an academic event and was stopped and interrogated for nearly four hours upon arrival, they said.
The professor’s luggage, mobile phones and laptops were confiscated, and they were afraid to say anything about the incident after returning to Taiwan, the observer said.
The CCP also recently finalized the appointment of high-ranking officials in the Central Committee’s Social Work Department, a new agency in charge of preventing real and potential risks, they said.
The appointments signify that the CCP has tightened its control over every part of society, they added.
Aside from coping with the repercussions brought by an economic downturn, fleeing foreign investors, high youth unemployment, flooding and a white paper revolution, Chinese people now fear they might be reported to the government and become victims of the communist regime, the observer said.
The Wall Street Journal last week reported that China’s foreign investment in the first quarter of this year fell 80 percent from the same period last year.
Only 52,000 international visitors arrived during the first quarter, compared with 3.7 million in the first quarter of 2019, the report said.
In June, the US Department of State advised Americans to reconsider traveling to China due to what it called “the arbitrary enforcement of local laws,” including “exit bans” and “the possibility of wrongful detentions.”
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