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China’s Communist Party
ChinaPolitics

China’s security ministry hails move to reward postal and parcel workers for spy tip-offs in eastern province

  • In Jiangsu, workers who report clues could be rewarded with up to US$4,100, particularly if it leads to a criminal case involving national security
  • Regulation says workers must be on the lookout for dangerous items as well as books and printed and audiovisual material that ‘harm national security’

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In Jiangsu province, a regulation that took effect on April 15 states that courier companies and their workers must report “clues about national security violations and crimes” they discover during their work. Photo: Shutterstock Images
Yuanyue Dangin Beijing

Postal and parcel workers in an eastern Chinese province who report possible threats to state security could be rewarded with up to 30,000 yuan (US$4,100).

China’s top counter-espionage watchdog, the Ministry of State Security, hailed the development in Jiangsu province – the first in China to introduce such rules – as an “innovative initiative” on Wednesday.

In an article published to the ministry’s WeChat account on Wednesday, it said the regulation was “aimed at severely cracking down on the use of the delivery service to endanger national security”.

The new local regulation was jointly issued by Jiangsu’s anti-spy agency, the state security department and the provincial postal bureau and took effect on April 15, making it the first government document in China to reward delivery companies and delivery workers for tip-offs about spying.

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The 25-article regulation states that courier companies and their employees are obliged to report “clues about national security violations and crimes” they discover during their work.

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