China's new law against espionage will tighten state control over a wider swath of data and digital activities.
The Wall Street Journal (gated) reports:
- The updated law broadens China’s already expansive definition of national security
- threatens to undermine efforts by Communist Party leaders to court foreign capital in a bid to revive economic growth
- “The business community necessarily needs information,” said Lester Ross, a Beijing-based lawyer and chair of the policy committee at the American Chamber of Commerce in China. “There is therefore a risk that people will be unable on behalf of their companies to gather sufficient information for fear of being branded an espionage agent.”
The costs of entering the Chinese market may be too high for some.