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02-05-2024
BEINING: New rules that tighten restrictions on China’s internet companies have come into effect today.
The expanded State Secrets Law compels firms including social media giants Tencent, ByteDance and Weibo to take action if users post sensitive information.
It requires “network operators” to monitor information being shared by users. The rules also describe how posts should be removed, records saved and reported to authorities.
This is the law’s first update in more than a decade and is in line with President Xi Jinping’s focus on national security as the government cracks down on China’s vast technology industry.
When the new rules were first announced in February, a National Administration of State Secrets Protection official told the state news agency Xinhua that they were necessary as “the guarding of state secrets faces new problems and challenges in the new era”.
While internet companies in China are already subject to strict rules, the changes “set a new standard for active self-monitoring and rapid cooperation”, said Hong Kong-based law professor, Ryan Mitchell.
The revised rules also broaden the definition of what may be deemed as sensitive information to include “work secrets”, or information about the decision-making of state agencies, which could be particularly problematic for journalists, including foreign correspondents. Taiwan has voiced concerns about the new rules and said they could place visitors from the island to China at risk.
Taipei’s Mainland Affairs Council said the legislation is “highly vague and may cause people to break the law at any time”.
The international law firm Baker McKenzie Fenxun said that while the definition of what are considered to be state secrets is “broad and vague” it should not have a substantial impact on multi-national companies operating in China.
The new regulations come as the social media giant TikTok, and its Chinese parent company ByteDance, are facing increased scrutiny in the US and other Western countries.
However, the new rules “do not seem to be mainly geared towards regulating the overseas operations of Chinese firms”, Mitchell said.
Chinese women are partnering with strangers to save money
On the other side, the Chinese women are partnering strangers to join them and safe their savings, media reported.
China already has one of the world’s highest saving rates. Official figures show that in 2023 the country’s households put about 138 trillion yuan in the bank, an almost 14% increase from a year earlier but Dr Lu says this high level of savings may prove to be a major problem for the Chinese government. Normally the country’s central bank can help boost the economy by cutting interest rates as it makes saving less attractive. However, if people continue to avoid spending and save their money instead it could blunt the bank’s ability to influence the economy.
Meanwhile, some women have opted for a more traditional saving method – keeping cash at home. It is unusual as China has gone largely cashless, with so many people using apps like Alipay and WeChat Pay. The trend shows a “low confidence in the future economy”, says Lu Xi, a public policy professor at the National University of Singapore even though the Chinese economy grew faster than expected in the first quarter, it still faces a deepening property crisis, falling foreign investment and mounting local government debts. (Int’l News Desk)
