China’s MI5 uses first social media post to launch "snoop on neighbours" initiative

China’s secretive state security agency has used its first post on social media to say that every civilian should be involved in its counter-espionage work.

Combating foreign spying requires public vigilance to form a “line of defence”, the ministry of state security said on its new account on WeChat, The Telegraph reports.

A system that makes it “normal” for the masses to participate in counter-espionage must be established, it wrote, including creating channels for individuals to report suspicious activity as well as commending and rewarding them.

The ministry in charge of countering foreign intelligence and espionage operations is one of the most secretive organisations in China. It is rare for the agency to have any public profile, making its new social media presence highly unusual.

Since Xi Jinping took power more than a decade ago, China has stepped up laws on national security with stronger measures against espionage.

Mr Xi has emphasised national security and patriotism, under the premise that China remains under threat from the spying activities of the West, especially the US.

China’s state security ministry’s social media presence comes in the wake of an overhaul to the country’s counter-espionage laws that took effect in July.

New measures banned the transfer of information related to national security and broadened the scope of what the government would define as spying. The changes have worried many foreign companies which fear their daily business activities could now be considered illegal.

The revised law also allows the authorities carrying out an anti-espionage probe to have access to data, electronic equipment and information on personal property.

Hacking threat

Beijing has long complained that foreign espionage is a way for the West to contain China’s rise.

But the US, and other Western nations, have accused China of the same – that the country is a major hacking and espionage threat to the world, which Beijing denies.

“Over recent years, in order to realise the strategy of containing and suppressing China, certain Western countries have become increasingly rampant in stealing intelligence and information pertaining to our country’s military industry, economy, and finance,” the country’s state broadcaster said in May.

Consultancies and audit firms have long played a significant role in assisting foreign companies in navigating the lay of the land in China, and to conduct key activities, such as audits of factories accused of forced labour and other human rights abuses.

In China, national security breaches can be very broadly defined. Foreigners arbitrarily detained in China for years have before been accused of breaking the law for having pictures of airports on their phones.

China routinely detains foreigners arbitrarily or issues exit bans against them as part of a game of high-stakes hostage diplomacy, often holding people on broad charges of “sharing state secrets” or “espionage”.

An executive at Astellas Pharma, the Japanese drug company, was detained on suspicion of espionage in March, while Cheng Lei, an Australian journalist accused of providing state secrets to another country, has been detained since September 2020.

Rewards of up to half a million yuan (£55,000) have been offered to encourage citizens to join in counter-intelligence efforts and provide information to the authorities on alleged spies.

A number of Chinese fishermen have received those maximum rewards for finding alleged “foreign spy devices” in recent years.

The Chinese government has focused on fanning nationalist sentiments, for instance using propaganda to blame the West for infecting China with Covid, and denying any link to coronavirus origins.