China gives students lessons in how not to become a foreign spy

CHINESE students going abroad will be trained in how to avoid being lured into spying for foreign intelligence agencies under strict anti-espionage laws that came into force yesterday.

The move in Chongqing – a city of more than 32 million people in south-west China – came after local authorities pioneered a stringent version of a national anti-espionage bill that was drastically expanded in July.

That bill drew concern from many foreign companies which fear that daily business activities could now be considered illegal. But the new regulations in Chongqing go even further.

The set of 29 articles has introduced anti-spying training for civil servants and students, strict oversight of all foreign exchange programmes and a requirement for courier services in the region to obtain national security clearance before they can operate.

It also includes tight oversight of “cooperative projects with foreign countries that may involve national secrets”, and says that relevant information must be examined before it is shared to prevent any spying.

On Thursday, the ministry of state security, China’s top anti-espionage agency, said that Chongqing was the first municipality to introduce such counter-intelligence regulations, and praised the city for its “simple”, “quick” and “effective” legislation.

“[China’s] revised national anti-espionage

29 The number of legal articles introduced in Chongqing, which include anti-spy training for civil servants

law has provided a powerful legal weapon to deepen the fight against spies in the new era,” the agency said in a WeChat post. “[The legislation in Chongqing] further enhances its implementation, providing clearer and more explicit legislative guidelines for Chongqing to carry out counter-espionage work.”

The city’s regulations follow a huge overhaul to China’s anti-spying laws that took effect in July.

New measures banned the transfer of information related to national security and broadened the scope of what the government would define as spying. They also allow investigating authorities to have access to information on personal property and electronic equipment.

Beijing has long complained that international espionage has been used by the West to contain the rise of China.

Shortly after the national legislation came into effect last month, Chen Yixin, the state security minister, wrote an article arguing that China had to “proactively defend” against spies to strengthen both national security and the Community Party’s leadership.