China’s legislature has passed a wide-ranging and controversial national security law which tightens government control over many areas of life.
The law broadly defines national security as covering everything from finance and cyber security to religion. State media said it would “protect people’s fundamental interests”.
It is part of a raft of policies by President Xi Jinping that have drawn criticism from foreign governments، entrepreneurship entities and rights groups.
The vaguely worded legislation authorizes the government to take “all necessary” steps to protect China’s sovereignty.
Included in the law، passed by the standing committee of the rubber-stamp National People’s Congress، is a move to make key network infrastructure and information systems “secure and controllable”.
The law is more an ideological declaration، says Zhang Xuezhong، a lawyer and former professor at East China University of Political Science and Law، which will allow more cultural censorship and a crackdown on opposing forces of state imposed policies.
“A good security law should state who on what conditions gets what punishment، but this law doesn’t،” Mr Zhang says، adding “technically speaking، the law is awful، as it is difficult to enforce it on individuals and companies.”
Source: BBC/Tech