Ministry hails move to reward postal and parcel workers for spy tip-offs

Postal and parcel workers in Jiangsu who report possible threats to state security could be rewarded with up to 30,000 yuan (HK$32,500).

The Ministry of State Security, hailed the development in the province – the first to introduce such a plan – as an “innovative initiative” yesterday.

In an article on the ministry’s WeChat account, it said the regulation was “aimed at severely cracking down on the use of the delivery service to endanger national security”.

The new local regulation was jointly issued by Jiangsu’s anti-spy agency, the state security department and the provincial postal bureau and took effect on April 15.

The 25-article regulation states that courier companies and their employees are obliged to report “clues about national security violations and crimes” they discover during their work.

If the tip-off leads to a criminal case involving national security, authorities will give the source a cash reward of 10,000 to 30,000 yuan, the highest level of the regulation’s three-tiered reward system. Informants will receive less than 1,000 yuan for clues that “play a certain role”.

National security agencies “will determine the final amount based on the circumstances of the case, the actual usefulness of the information, and relevant policies and regulations”.

According to the regulations, delivery workers in Jiangsu should be aware of suspicious parcels, including “dangerous items related to national security”, such as weapons, bullets, drugs, explosives and threats to biosecurity.

They should also be on the lookout for books and printed and audiovisual material that “harm national security”, while express carriers should report any “spy equipment or suspected spy equipment” they find.

National security authorities in Jiangsu hope to be told about clues to “documents, data, information, and other items suspected of being state secrets” and the regulations guarantee informants will be protected.

According to an article posted on April 18 to the Jiangsu Express Association website, a meeting was held on April 15 between the provincial postal bureau and the national security department to plan how to implement the regulations. The meeting called on delivery companies to “step up inspections by opening parcels and strengthening security checks by machines at places where [parcels] are handled”.

According to data released by the Jiangsu provincial postal bureau in January, the province sent 13.4 billion parcels last year, 8.2 per cent of the 162.5 billion articles sent on the mainland.

The Ministry of State Security said Jiangsu’s rules were consistent with a national regulation it issued in 2022, which set criteria for rewards. That said authorities would offer rewards that could exceed 100,000 yuan to citizens who report behaviour deemed a threat to national security.

The ministry has become more active on social media, warning of the threat of foreign spies and urging the public to share information on suspicious activity. The revised anti-espionage law, which took effect in July last year, expanded the definition of espionage and the investigative powers of state security agencies.

The newly revised law on state secrets, which takes effect from next month, adds 12 new articles, expanding the depth and breadth of its coverage.