China on Wednesday implemented a revised law on guarding state secrets that is expected to help Beijing further safeguard national security following the entry into force of an amended counterespionage law in July last year.
The legislation calls for the strengthening of the management of secrets at military facilities and stresses the guidance of the country's ruling Communist Party, allowing relevant officials to decide on their own what constitutes a state secret.
To prevent the leakage of secrets overseas, officials who had access to secrets will be stopped from leaving China for a certain period and have a duty of confidentiality after quitting their job.
The original legislation on guarding state secrets was implemented in 1988 and first revised in 2010. The new counterespionage law that took effect last July broadened the scope of what constitutes spying activities.
The implementations of the new state secrets and counterespionage laws have caused alarm among expatriates in China, with foreign individuals and businesses believed to be subject to stronger surveillance by the country's authorities.
In March last year, a senior Japanese employee of Astellas Pharma Inc. was detained in China on suspicion of espionage and formally arrested in October.
China's State Security Minister Chen Yixin vowed Monday in an article contributed to a local newspaper to fight against the infiltration of foreign agents and efforts to topple Communist Party rule.
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