China updated its anti-espionage law.
It’s so broad
That no foreign business is safe
Welcome to China Uncensored. I’m Chris Chappell.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, China’s zero-covid policy has kept it isolated from
the world, but now, the zero-covid policy is over, and China’s starving for foreign money.
Which is better than when people were *literally* starving *during* its zero-Covid policy.
Seems like people are always starving under communism. Hm.
Guess all those historical examples are just hundreds of coincidences.
China has pitched itself to the global elite as investors’ best bet in 2023
And claimed that US businesses could face “triple benefits” in China.
Nothing makes business execs more gullible than the promise of money-money-money .
And I’m sure China is as safe an investment as NFTs, New Coke,
or lead-flavored pacifiers. They’re can’t-misses!
More recently, at a government-hosted conference in Beijing, Chinese Vice
Premier Xing Xuexiang promised a bunch of foreign executives that China will “create an
enabling environment for foreign companies so they will invest, stay, and thrive in China.”
China, what a sweet talker!
But its actions are having the exact opposite effect. In fact,
its most recent actions are so bad that it might someday make foreign
businesses finally wake up and see that doing business in China isn’t worth it.
Better late than never, I guess. Here’s footage of me the first time
I warned businesses that investing in China was a bad idea.
Last week, Chinese lawmakers approved a wide-ranging expansion of China’s
2014 counter-espionage law. Although supplements for the
law were released in 2015 and 2021, this was the first time the law itself
was ever changed, and boy was it ever changed. China’s Counter-Espionage Law was already broad,
countering anything that it deemed to threaten “state secrets,” but now, it’s even broader.
Now, it also counters anything it deems to be against “the people’s interests.”
And by “the people’s interests,” read “the party’s interests.”
This is based on a “holistic view of national security”
that addresses “both symptoms and root causes.”
Holistic? Like the medicine? Oh… so it doesn’t work. Got it.
According to Legislative Affairs Commission of the National People’s
Congress Standing Committee member Wang Aili, the new version of the
counter-espionage law “properly expands the scope of targets of espionage.”
How does it do that? By including “documents, data, materials or items related to national
security and interests.” It doesn’t specify what that means.
Given that we’re talking about a Marxist-Leninist regime that’s
obsessed with making everything—even culture—connected to China’s security,
It’s almost impossible to tell what’s *not* related
to China’s national security and interests.
Information that you wouldn’t normally think would
harm national security could now be considered espionage—at least on paper.
This includes some of China’s favorite everyday secrets, like the origin of Covid,
China’s real pandemic death toll, or real data on China’s economy.
Even trying to find information about things like local government budgets or anything related to
food security could arguably be crossing the line of China’s national security concerns.
In other words, it sounds like we need to change the name of this channel to
Crossing the Line of China’s National Security Concerns… with Chris Chappell.
The same could be said about things like information about
China’s energy sources and telecommunications.
According to a professor at the University of
Tokyo , “any organization and anyone can be suspect… and anything can be counted
as a threat to national security” in the arbitrary application of the law.
Considering how *everything* is a threat to them, maybe we should just put the CCP
In bubbles. There, now you’re safe!
Foreign businesses especially are at risk of getting caught in the net.
According to the Wall Street Journal, “Foreign executives say the expanded scope and powers
of the legislation threaten to turn everyday interactions into national-security offenses”
For many businesses, research on local markets, rivals, and business partners
is standard practice. If that gets swept up in China’s broad definition of espionage,
then how are foreign businesses going to function without being branded as espionage agents?
When did espionage go from wearing tuxedos,
using cool gadgets, and sneaking into places to looking something up on Wikipedia?
The Global Times, China’s English-language state-sponsored news, says that the law
“allows the national security authority to draw up lists of
companies and organizations that are susceptible to foreign infiltration and
require listed institutes to adopt security measures to prevent foreign infiltration.”
So I guess not all foreign businesses are at risk, just the ones on the list. But given that the
list is not exactly public knowledge, all foreign businesses in China have reason to be concerned.
I’m not sure if the Chinese Communist Party is aware, but this is not the
way to invite foreign investment. This is just going to drive foreigners away.
Do they expect foreign businesses to just pump money into China regardless?
Well, given how some people are doing just that,
I wouldn’t be surprised if the CCP really does think that.
The revision to China’s Counter-Espionage Law
goes into effect on July 1st of this year, but that’s just a formality.
China has already been arbitrarily probing and detaining people in the
name of counter-espionage, and foreigners living in China are at the highest risk.
I’ll tell you more after the break.
Welcome back.
China has passed revisions to broaden its anti-espionage law,
and this is making many foreign businesses nervous.
Not only can China arbitrarily search people’s electronic equipment and data,
But it can also detain people when it feels like it for mysterious reasons.
Which is shocking… that they’re passing a law allowing them to do this,
instead of just doing it for funsies.
But who am I kidding? The CCP has been targeting foreign nationals
and businesses for years under the old law. The new law is just icing on the
cake. And maybe a little bit of retroactive justification for some recent activity.
For example, back in March, China detained a senior Japanese executive
from the drugmaker Astellas just as he was about to board a flight back to Japan.
There’s barely any explanation for why he was detained. All we know
is that Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao
Ning said the employee was “suspected of engaging in espionage activities.”
According to the Japanese public broadcaster NHK,
this makes him the 17th Japanese national to have been detained by
Chinese authorities for alleged spying since its Counter-Espionage Law went into effect in 2014.
The Japanese government says it’ll continue to ask China to ensure transparency in its
law enforcement and judicial process, but that’s just a waste of breath.
Since when has China’s law enforcement and judicial process ever been transparent?
Despite their missing executive, Astellas has ruled out a China exit,
noting that the Chinese market was “obviously attractive.”
This is like when your friend dates an obvious psycho, and no matter how many warning signs
there are, he stays with her because, “She’s so hot, bro! I’ll let her detain me anytime!”
Many Japanese businesses are reassessing China,
with some temporarily halting business trips to China.
The definition of espionage under this new law is so vague that sending
people to China presents a bigger risk than ever before. After all,
who knows where the red line is? People could end up committing “espionage” without even knowing it.
China can use the law’s vague language as justification to target anybody.
Foreign businesses should be worried, especially ones from the US.
Recently, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen noted
that there has been “a recent uptick in coercive actions targeting US firms”.
Also in march, the same month Chinese authorities detained the Japanese Astellas executive,
China's top cybersecurity regulator said it was investigating Micron Technology,
the US’s largest memory chipmaker.
According to Asia Financial, “The Cyberspace Administration of China
said the move is aimed at protecting the security of the supply chain for critical
information infrastructure, prevent hidden risks and safeguard national security.”
There it is again: national security.
Is it just me, or is China trying to justify *everything* with the same excuse?
“Hey, who stole my leftover spaghetti?” “National security!”
But “It gave no other details, including what Micron products it was reviewing.”
I’m sure China’s going to take its time “reviewing” Micron. It *totally* won’t
use this as an opportunity to steal trade secrets.
Hey, maybe they’ll make a new law saying they’re allowed to do that, too. You know,
For national security.
A few days earlier, the authorities also raided
and shut down the Beijing office of the due diligence firm Mintz
Group. It detained all five of its staff members without notice or an explanation.
And in late April, Chinese authorities
also visited consulting firm Bain & Company in Shanghai.
According to the Financial Times, people familiar with the incident said Chinese police had visited
Bain’s offices on multiple occasions and took away computers and phones but didn’t detain anyone.
Though they did question them. What they were questioned about remains unknown.
I’m not too surprised that both Mintz and Bain were targeted. Both operate
businesses that collect information, and that’s the last thing China wants,
especially if it exposes officials committing shady practices,
Which pretty much covers the entire CCP and businesses connected to it.
Although I don’t know what they’re afraid of.
Learning the CCP is shady is like learning that Guy Fieri likes hair dye. We already know.
This should be a warning to US business of what I’ve already been saying over the past decade:
that doing any sort of business with China is always risky.
Thanks to China’s recent behavior, some US businesses just might now be getting the memo.
Michael Hart, president of the Beijing-based American Chamber of Commerce in China , says,
“Our business community is spooked”.
“The Chinese government has continuously said it welcomes foreign investment. However, a flurry of
recent actions taken against US enterprises in China has sent the opposite message.”
“Irrespective of the government’s intention, that’s the message being received.”
What are you talking about? Detaining
foreign investors with no warning or explanation is just being hospitable.
That’s how I greet all my friends at dinner parties. “Thanks for coming, Phil!”
And China definitely wouldn’t say one thing and do the other on a regular basis.
Upon hearing the news about Bain, Hart says, “our members are asking, ‘Who’s next?’”
My answer: you!
China has been waging economic warfare against the US for decades. At least.
Even if a US business is lucky enough to avoid arbitrary detainment, confiscation,
or questioning, it’ll definitely be treated as an enemy of the CCP,
an enemy that the CCP can squeeze money, tech, and trade secrets from.
China’s revisions to its Counter-Espionage Law prove it.
If China is paranoid that businesses from the US and other countries
are doing things that jeopardize its own national security and interests,
chances are China’s afraid of the very thing it is doing to others.
And if you’re a business who — after all this — is still interested in working with China,
Then I’ve got some lead-flavored pacifiers to sell ya.
They’re probably made in China. But you know what’s not made in China?
Everything from the China Uncensored merch store! Head over
to chinauncensored.tv/merchandise and support the show in style
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Once again I’m Chris Chappell. See you next time.