China to amend anti-espionage law to include cyberattacks by foreign spying agencies
The change is part of a wider revision of the anti-espionage law, and a legislative meeting next week is expected to approve it.
China is set to amend its anti-espionage law to include cyberattacks as an act of espionage for the first time. The changes list cyberattacks by a ‘spying entity or its surrogate’ as acts of espionage for the first time.
Zang Tiewei, a spokesman for the NPC’s Legislative Affairs Committee, said the latest revision ‘clearly defines cyberattacks, intrusions, interference, control and destruction’ by foreign spies as espionage activities.
The anti-espionage law has been in effect since 2014. China’s top legislature is expected to endorse revisions to the country’s anti-espionage law, including new provisions related to cyberespionage. The revisions are expected to be signed into law by President Xi Jinping after being endorsed at the second meeting of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People’s Congress.
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