(The author, formerly the director of the Bureau of National Secrecy in Huai'an, Jiangsu Province, is now an official in the Bureau of National Secrecy of Jiangsu Province. Below is an excerpt from his article published on www.baomi.org.)
The Rio Tinto spy case has been intensively reported since the beginning of July. The world's media and the Australian government are paying great attention to how the case will be charged and sentenced. However, the fact is clear: a great many statistics about China's steel industry, discovered in Rio Tinto's computer and collected by bribing and spying for the past six years, has forced China to pay over 700 billion yuan more than the reasonable price on imported iron ore. What does this 700 billion yuan mean? In 2008, the fiscal income of Jiangsu Province, one of the most developed provinces in China, totaled 273.1 billion yuan, meaning that the over 70 million residents in Jiangsu need to work two years and a half to pay this 700 billion yuan, and on average each Chinese contributed more than 500 yuan! It also means China has sent over $100 billion to employers of these spies, accounting for 10% of Australia's GDP. It has also led to serious losses in China's steel industry.
China must re-arrange the construction of its rules for national secrecy, revise or newly issue laws and regulations governing the administration of overseas companies, and reinforce sanctions against spying.
However, most dangerous are traitors inside the system. In the Rio Tinto case, Stern Hu, a Chinese-born Australian, harmed China's economic security and interest by colluding with senior officials of large domestic steel makers. In essence, this case is the same as the case of Guo Jingyi, former director of the Department of Treaty and Law of the Ministry of Commerce, and the case of precious metals exports (ed: suspected of taking bribes to influence MoC decisions. The case is still under investigation.). And these are only a tip of the iceberg. If we do not deal with this in time, China will suffer larger losses and the whole country will be seriously harmed. Can anyone imagine the number of spying cases in various industries that have not been discovered? And who can tell how much China has lost and will continue to lose from them? What is more dangerous is that while receiving illegal payments for importing overseas resources at high prices and exporting China's resources at low prices and helping overseas companies acquire key enterprises in China, these traitors are regarded as elite and are doing their illegal business in the name of globalization and win-win. They are closely connected to overseas companies by interest and values, and their power is destructive.
The government should set strict limits for researchers and scholars sponsored by overseas enterprises and institutions, and strictly ban domestic employees of foreign-related enterprises and departments from directly or indirectly serving overseas companies and institutions. It should also reinforce secrecy education of management of state-owned enterprises and sign secrecy contracts with relevant staff. A system of wealth and employment declaration for senior officials of state-owned enterprises and their children should be perfected and established as soon as possible.
China will soon overtake Japan as the world's second largest economy, and economic intelligence security of key industries becomes more and more important. To some extent to society and ordinary people, it's even more important than secrets of diplomacy and national defense. Once the iron ore price booms, all Chinese must pay for the increase in prices of products using steel as a raw material, such as cars, electric appliances, real estate, and even cooking utensils. The competition among multinational companies under globalization is not only commercial, but also comprehensive among countries, related to diplomacy, politics, law, technology, and even culture. Enterprises alone won't be able to protect their secrets, so the government must be completely aware of the fact that the ability to protect economic secrets is an important part of a country's comprehensive competitiveness, and should strongly support enterprises in the protection of secrets.
The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, the Ministry of Commerce, and industrial administrators should reinforce intervention in key enterprises according to their own distinctive responsibilities.
Offices such as public security, national security, procurator organs and courts should follow their western counterparts and be highly alert to economic espionage cases. Any individual or organization involved in such a case should be heavily punished and exposed to the public. Western countries have long kept a close eye on Chinese scholars and students under suspicion of espionage, preferring to overreact and apologize afterwards rather than let any single suspect go. China needs to do the same.
How many secrecy specialists can be fed with 700 billion yuan? And how much can they save for the country? Secrecy specialists should be working in key state-owned enterprises in all industries and do what enterprises can't do.
The peak for espionage cases has come, and the threat to the economic national security is increasing. Spies may be someone close to you, and they may steal secrets under your nose! Facing the systematic flaws and lack of supervision reflected by the Rio Tinto case, we should be aware that it's time to do something!
Â