China is about to draft new laws on national security, technology innovation, monopolies and education, as well as in areas involving foreigners, the Chinese government said in a document published late on Wednesday.
The announcement signals that a crackdown on industry with regard to privacy, data management, antitrust and other issues would persist throughout the year.
The Chinese Communist Party and the government said in a plan for the five years to 2025, published by the state-run Xinhua news agency, that they would also improve legislation governing public health by amending China’s infectious disease law, and its “frontier health and quarantine law.”
Photo: Bloomberg
China is working for a return to normal after the COVID-19 pandemic, which emerged in Wuhan in late 2019.
Regulations dealing with food and medicine, natural resources, industrial safety, urban governance and transport would also be strictly enforced, the government said.
Authorities aim to develop laws consistent with new sectors, such as the digital economy, Internet finance, artificial intelligence, big data and cloud computing, they said, adding that they would also improve the response to emergencies.
They also laid out directives for the prevention and resolution of social conflicts, and reiterated an order for officials to “nip conflicts in the bud.”
Better legislation in areas such as education, race, religion and biosecurity is also being planned, they said.
The government has over the past few months reined in tech corporations with anti-monopoly or data security rules, and clamped down on tutoring companies, as the state increases its control of the economy and society.
Authorities last month used a law aimed at responding to foreign sanctions for the first time to countersanction former US secretary of commerce Wilbur Ross and other US citizens, and last year imposed a National Security Law on Hong Kong, employing legal means to protect the Chinese government’s interests beyond the mainland border.
The party and the government asserted that a “rule of law government” must follow the party leadership.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) has made “rule of law governance” a signature of his rule, which would be extended if he seeks a third five-year term next year.
MILITARY BOOST: The procurement was planned after Washington recommended that Taiwan increase its stock of air defense missiles, a defense official said yesterday Taiwan is planning to order an additional four PAC-3 MSE systems and up to 500 missiles in response to an increasing number of missile sites on China’s east coast, a defense official said yesterday. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the proposed order would be placed using the defense procurement special budget, adding that about NT$1 trillion (US$32,88 billion) has been allocated for the budget. The proposed acquisition would include launchers, missiles, and a lower tier air and missile defense radar system, they said The procurement was planned after the US military recommended that Taiwan increase
POLITICAL AGENDA: Beijing’s cross-strait Mid-Autumn Festival events are part of a ‘cultural united front’ aimed at promoting unification with Taiwan, academics said Local authorities in China have been inviting Taiwanese to participate in cross-strait Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations centered around ideals of “family and nation,” a move Taiwanese academics said politicizes the holiday to promote the idea of “one family” across the Taiwan Strait. Sources said that China’s Fujian Provincial Government is organizing about 20 cross-strait-themed events in cities including Quanzhou, Nanping, Sanming and Zhangzhou. In Zhangzhou, a festival scheduled for Wednesday is to showcase Minnan-language songs and budaixi (布袋戲) glove puppetry to highlight cultural similarities between Taiwan and the region. Elsewhere, Jiangsu Province is hosting more than 10 similar celebrations in Taizhou, Changzhou, Suzhou,
COGNITIVE WARFARE: Chinese fishing boats transmitting fake identification signals are meant to test Taiwan’s responses to different kinds of perceived incursions, a report said Chinese vessels are transmitting fake signals in Taiwan’s waters as a form of cognitive warfare, testing Taipei’s responses to various types of incursions, a report by the Institute for the Study of War said on Friday. Several Chinese fishing vessels transmitted fake automatic identification system (AIS) signals in Taiwan’s waters last month, with one mimicking a Russian warship and another impersonating a Chinese law enforcement vessel, the report said. Citing data from Starboard Maritime Intelligence, the report said that throughout August and last month, the Chinese fishing boat Minshiyu 06718 (閩獅漁06718) sailed through the Taiwan Strait while intermittently transmitting its own AIS
CHINESE INFILTRATION: Medical logistics is a lifeline during wartime and the reported CCP links of a major logistics company present a national security threat, an expert said The government would bolster its security check system to prevent China from infiltrating the nation’s medical cold chain, a national security official said yesterday. The official, who wished to stay anonymous, made the remarks after the Chinese-language magazine Mirror Media (鏡周刊) reported that Pharma Logistics (嘉里醫藥物流) is in charge of the medical logistics of about half of the nation’s major hospitals, including National Taiwan University Hospital and Taipei Veterans General Hospital. The company’s parent, Kerry TJ Logistics Co (嘉里大榮物流), is associated with the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the
RSS