Despite the fact that communism has failed to deliver its promises in every country in which it has been tried, Chinese leader Xi Jinping continues to push “communist innovation” as the way ahead for China, while claiming that “Marxism works, particularly when it is adapted to the Chinese context and the needs of the times,” as reported by state-run media China Daily on July 3.
Mr. Xi further claimed without proof that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) “has mastered the scientific theory of Marxism, and has constantly promoted theoretical innovation in light of new realities.” The real translation: The CCP is in total control, and we implement arbitrary laws whenever we think they’re necessary to shore up that control over Chinese society.
Those “new realities” include the persistent yearning of individual Chinese people for the personal and economic freedoms enjoyed by other nations despite the relentless efforts of the CCP and its security apparatus to surveil, monitor, coerce, persecute when necessary, and control the actions of all Chinese citizens. And those “theoretical innovations” implied by Mr. Xi are typically arbitrary, byzantine laws, regulations, strictures, and diktats aimed at tightening control to eradicate perceived threats to the CCP.
The latest theoretical innovation is Beijing’s anti-espionage law, which was amended significantly and superseded the previous version on July 1. This update meant a general clampdown on Chinese citizens courtesy of Mr. Xi’s push to implement socialism with Chinese characteristics, rejuvenate the CCP (and root out its systemic corruption), and return to Marxist orthodoxy in all affairs while tightening Beijing’s control of Chinese society down to the actions of individual citizens.
National Security Law
The original national security law was passed in 1993 to primarily regulate the work of China’s national security agencies, whose primary function is counterespionage. It was focused on people who were “endangering Chinese national security” by “(1) plotting to subvert the government, dismember the State or overthrow the socialist system; (2) joining an espionage organization or accepting it [sic] mission assigned by an espionage organization or by its agent; (3) stealing, secretly gathering, buying, or unlawfully providing State secrets; (4) instigating, luring or bribing a State functionary to turn traitor; or (5) committing any other act of sabotage endangering State security.”
The new law included a focus on cyber security, with an emphasis on “[making] core Internet and information technologies, infrastructure as well as information systems and data in key sectors ‘secure and controllable,'” The Diplomat stated.
The law incorporated the “great firewall” regulatory and technological system to monitor, limit, and block internet-based content as deemed appropriate by the CCP. It provided a legal basis for prosecuting law-breakers.
Counterespionage Law
The original counterespionage law was implemented in 2014, replacing the 1993 national security law. It primarily targeted “foreign spies and Chinese individuals and organizations” who collaborate with foreigners in capacities that could compromise state secrets. While Mr. Xi’s predecessors were focused on China’s economic progress, this law marked his shift in priorities to national security to enhance the power, authority, and security of the CCP over all other considerations.And the ambiguities in those definitions are made to order for arbitrary enforcement by Chinese authorities who could selectively designate any documents, data, materials, or other items relevant to Chinese national security. The objective is to suppress outward information flows from China that could include bona fide “secrets” or simply information considered embarrassing to Beijing.
Concluding Thoughts
The Chinese economy appears to be going south, as reported by The Epoch Times. The historic 140-year floods are wreaking vengeance on Chinese agriculture and food security. Nations in East and South Asia—such as India, Japan, the Philippines, South Korea, Australia, and Taiwan—are collaborating diplomatically and militarily in response to PLA belligerence.What’s Mr. Xi’s response? To batten down the hatches at home, squeeze Chinese citizens with new laws, and move Chinese society further and further toward the authoritarian surveillance state envisioned in George Orwell’s epic novel “1984.”
Will the ambiguities in the new law discourage foreigners from doing business in China? Will foreign companies risk arbitrary enforcement of the overlapping counterespionage and national security laws? These are some severe and self-imposed headwinds facing China’s export economy.
