Under new law, China is ‘encouraging citizens to spy on each other’, US says
- State Department says Secretary Antony Blinken raised US concerns about Beijing’s broad anti-espionage efforts during recent meetings with Chinese officials
- Washington has already warned US citizens about travelling to mainland China because of ‘the risk of wrongful detention’
China is “encouraging citizens to spy on each other”, department spokesman Matthew Miller said. “It’s something that’s of great concern.”
“We are closely monitoring the implementation of China’s new counter-espionage law … which, as written, greatly expands the scope of what activities are considered espionage,” he said.
“In addition to being concerned about these new reports, we remain concerned about the risk of arbitrary arrest and detention [in China].”
He added: “I will add that these are these are issues that [Secretary of State Antony Blinken] raised in his meetings with Chinese officials.”
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Blinken travelled to Beijing in June to meet then-foreign minister Qin Gang in an effort to ease tensions between the countries.
