The Chinese Communist regime in Beijing announced new regulations on Monday that will empower its officials to inspect smartphones and other personal electronics at will, including those belonging to foreign visitors.
If the officials decide an “emergency” exists, they can perform these intrusive searches without obtaining a warrant.
China’s rubber-stamp legislature approved a new “anti-espionage” law in July 2023 that dramatically increased the already vast surveillance powers of its police state. The new law was even more opaque and vaguely-worded than China’s previous security laws, leaving even more surveillance power at the discretion of individual officials.
The new law greatly expanded Communist China’s definition of “spying” to include merely “relaying on espionage organizations and their agents” – in other words, guilt by association – or possessing any data Chinese officials decide is “related to national security interests” without obtaining whatever they decide is proper “authorization.”
China was already struggling to bring back foreign businessmen after the coronavirus pandemic and the new espionage law did not exactly make them feel more welcome.
“The law creates new risks for foreign companies, business travelers, academics, journalists, and researchers. Its nebulous language allows China significant leeway to investigate and prosecute foreign corporations,” Forbes warned in July 2023.
As Forbes pointed out, almost none of the key terms in China’s espionage law were firmly defined. “Espionage,” “national security,” “collaboration,” “cyber-attacks,” and other terms would mean whatever Communist officials decided they meant, on a case-by-case basis. Almost any foreign commercial activity could be redefined as “conducting intelligence activities” on a whim.
Critics also anticipated a massive expansion of China’s panopticon surveillance state under the new law, to harvest data that would be useful for prosecuting its imposing array of new offenses. One year later, Chinese officials are receiving nearly unlimited authority to seize and inspect the personal electronics of anyone they suspect might be “spying.” As with every other aspect of the espionage law, “spying” is not defined by the text, nor has it been clarified by official statements since the law was imposed.
Japan’s Kyodo News on Monday spoke to foreign travelers in China who said they would stop using their smartphones and personal computers. Japanese travel agencies expected tourism would decline, while Taiwan’s government warned its citizens to avoid all unnecessary travel to China.
Taiwan News noted Chinese officials attempted to reassure nervous travelers that the “conditions for inspection are clearly defined,” but they most certainly are not.
Chinese officials also claimed that only high-ranking security officers can order smartphone and laptop searches after filling out plenty of bureaucratic paperwork, but this is not much of a reassurance.
The government of South Korea last week advised its citizens to exercise caution when using virtual private networks, chat programs, or social media programs in China because the new rules allow Chinese officials to “unilaterally access private information such as chat records, emails, photos, and login records if they suspect South Korean citizens in China are engaged in activities that threaten national security.”
Nikkei Asia on Monday reported “fear is spreading on social media” despite China’s reassurances that not all visitors will be subject to phone and computer searches. China’s effort to turn all of its citizens into eyes and ears of the Communist Party is exacerbating those fears:
China’s push to mobilize the entire nation to expose spies is underway. Media affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party report the cities of Shanghai and Chongqing as well as the provinces of Yunnan and Anhui each held meetings on national security in May and June. All were organized by the local party leadership.
Han Jun, then the Communist Party secretary of Anhui Province in eastern China, called for “the enhancement of big data monitoring and analytics” to crack down on espionage. Those who met in Chongqing agreed “to do everything in our power to ensure political security and prevent the infiltration of hostile forces.”
China also is raising awareness of anti-espionage efforts in educational settings. The State Security Ministry in June sent officials to schools in Beijing — from the elementary level to universities — to give lectures on national security to students and others. Security risks from advanced technologies including artificial intelligence have been discussed as well.
As Nikkei Asia pointed out, China’s expanded espionage law not only requires citizens to report any “spying” they might happen to observe, but offers substantial financial rewards for doing so. Combined with vague definitions of espionage crimes and expansive authority for officials to declare “emergencies,” there are good reasons for foreign travelers to worry they will be ordered to hand over their phones – and almost everyone outside of China probably has material on their phones that the Chinese Communist Party would consider objectionable.