China’s National Intelligence Law obliges organizations and individuals, both inside and outside China, to cooperate with intelligence activities—something unimaginable in Japan. Through the issues of Chinese companies, Chinese capital, payment services, and customer information, this essay discusses the security risks that Japanese people must face.

May 3, 2020
It is a law unimaginable in Japan, but in short, it positions both individuals and companies as agents of Xi Jinping and uses them as sources of information.
The following is the continuation of a blog written by a person who reads this column.

Everyone is an agent.
May 2, 2020.
The proper form of reporting.

The Nikkei Shimbun.
China enacts National Intelligence Law.
Organizations and individuals inside and outside the country are subject to it.
June 28, 2017, 19:44.
Beijing, Kyodo.

On the twenty-eighth, China enacted the “National Intelligence Law,” which gives legal grounds to “intelligence activities” inside and outside the country in order to strengthen national security.
According to Xinhua, deliberations began last December in the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, or the NPC, China’s parliament, and the law was adopted on the twenty-seventh of this month.
It is believed to aim at strengthening information gathering targeting organizations and individuals inside and outside the country, in order to maintain national sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The Xi Jinping leadership has successively enacted laws such as the Counter-Espionage Law and the Cybersecurity Law, strengthening control under the name of “rule of law.”
However, the scope of authority and the wording of the laws are vague, and human-rights groups inside and outside China have expressed concern.
The National Intelligence Law permits agents, under certain conditions, to enter “restricted areas and places,” and also obliges organizations and citizens to provide “necessary cooperation.”

About three years ago, the “National Intelligence Law” was enacted in China.
It is a law unimaginable in Japan, but in short, it positions both individuals and companies as agents of Xi Jinping and uses them as sources of information.
The Counter-Espionage Law is a frightening law.
If someone puts photographs of military facilities into your bag at the airport, it is over.
You will be detained because of that.

The Nikkei Shimbun.
Even with improved Japan-China relations, crackdowns are not eased.
Japanese detentions continue.
October 21, 2019, 18:00.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga acknowledged at a press conference on the twenty-first that a Japanese man had been detained by Chinese authorities in September.
There is a possibility that he is being accused under the Counter-Espionage Law and other laws.
Since 2015, China has successively detained Japanese citizens on grounds such as involvement in espionage activities.
While Japan-China relations are improving, there is no sign that China is easing its crackdowns.
Mr. Suga said, “Because of the nature of the matter, I will refrain from giving details.”
He then said, “From the standpoint of protecting Japanese nationals, we are providing as much support as possible, including consular visits and contact with family members.”
An official of the Consular Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, “We are asking the Chinese side, at various levels, to respond positively.”
The man is a professor at Hokkaido University and has previously worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Institute for Defense Studies of the Ministry of Defense.
It appears to be the first time that a national university teacher, who is a quasi-public servant, has been detained.
He specializes in modern and contemporary Chinese history and seems to have been detained by Chinese authorities when he visited China in September.
Chinese authorities are strengthening their crackdown on information gathering by foreigners inside China.
In 2014, China established the Counter-Espionage Law, and in 2015 it enacted the National Security Law.
Since 2015, at least thirteen Japanese citizens are believed to have been detained, and nine of them have been indicted.
In May of this year, a male executive of a Japan-China friendship organization was sentenced to six years in prison for espionage activities.
A male employee of the major trading company Itochu Corporation, who was detained in February last year, is currently on trial.
High-level visits between Japan and China have continued, and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has emphasized that “Japan-China relations have completely returned to a normal track.”
In connection with the attendance of Vice President Wang Qishan at the “Ceremony of the Enthronement” on the twenty-second, the Prime Minister will meet with Mr. Wang.
Next spring, President Xi Jinping is scheduled to visit Japan as a state guest.
When the Prime Minister met with Mr. Xi in Osaka in June, he requested the early return of detained Japanese citizens.
The issue of detained Japanese citizens is one of the pending problems in Japan-China relations, even as improvement continues.

Under the National Intelligence Law, for example, if a Japanese company is bought by Chinese capital, it will have to provide information in accordance with the National Intelligence Law.
For example, if SoftBank or Rakuten were transferred to Chinese capital, all customer information and the like would be seized.
Everything would be completely exposed.
Or rather, SoftBank’s PayPay is already under the umbrella of the Chinese company Alibaba, so it is already no good.
PayPay is linked with AliPay, the payment service of Alibaba, a Chinese online shopping company.
In other words, PayPay information is completely exposed.
With facial recognition software and location information software, individuals can be identified.
Members of the Diet who use PayPay without thinking will have their behavior patterns understood, and weaknesses that can be exploited will be seen through.
Even ordinary individuals may have their credit card information and other data exposed.
It may be used in crimes, and they may be dragged into incidents.
Everyone is an agent.
It is frightening.