On Wednesday, China’s pro forma legislature approved a sweeping new national security law. Here is what you need to know:
It’s vague: “The meaning and the range of national security is more wide-ranging than in any other time in history,” Zheng Shuna, deputy director of the legislature’s commission of legislative affairs, said at a news conference in Beijing on Wednesday. The law addresses purported security threats in areas as varied as cyberspace, food supply and religion.
A late addition to the law lists the exploration and exploitation of resources in outer space, the deep sea and the polar regions (China has been increasing its presence in Antarctica) as matters of national security. At the news conference, Ms. Zheng defended the addition, arguing that Western countries had been enacting similar laws since the 1980s. “During the process of resource exploration, expedition and utilization in the above areas, the Chinese government has the right to guarantee the safety of its related activities, assets and personnel according to the law,” she said.
In another broad stroke, the law’s Article 23 calls for unspecified measures to “prevent and withstand adverse cultural influence” and “increase overall cultural strength and competitiveness.”
“It is not a proper piece of legislation,” said Nicholas Bequelin, the East Asia director for Amnesty International. “It’s a comprehensive catalog about the party’s anxieties, about what could go wrong.”
It’s part of a bigger plan: The law comes amid a wider legislative effort to revamp the country’s security apparatus. In December, the previous national security law, enacted in 1993, was replaced by a counterespionage law. A bill aimed at regulating nongovernmental organizations, another on countering terrorism and changes to China’s foreign investment law are currently going through the legislative process.
It has a message for Hong Kong: Ms. Zheng said the law would not apply in the former British colony, which experienced months of protests last year over a Beijing-backed election proposal that was ultimately defeated. In a statement on Wednesday, the Hong Kong government said it had no plans to adjust local legislation to the new law.
However, the law does refer to Hong Kong, saying that the territory, along with Macau, has a “responsibility to uphold national security.” Mr. Bequelin says he believes this reflects concerns in Beijing that the pro-democracy demonstrations have turned Hong Kong, to some degree, into a national security issue. Wednesday was also the 18th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to Chinese sovereignty, which is marked by annual protests in the city.