A new national security law was adopted in China on July 1 by the country’s top legislature, the National People’s Congress (NPC). The law earned overwhelming support from members of the NPC Standing Committee, with 154 votes for the bill, no votes against it and one member abstaining. It be-came effective on the same day.
Although the new law shares a name with a previous law implemented in 1993, it departs significantly from the old one by encompassing a wide range of topics such as defense, finance, resource and energy security, grain security, ecological environment, cyberspace security, culture and religion, among others.
The old national security law, which focused on sabotage and espionage activities, was replaced by the Counterespionage Law that went into force on November 1, 2014.
The new…