The ‘Chilling Effect’ of China’s New Cybersecurity Regime

On July 6, China unveiled a sweeping new cybersecurity draft law, which, due to the structure of China’s law-making process, will likely be made into law with few changes. The bill comes amid increasing global concerns over cybersecurity, as well as rising tension in the US-China relationship, as some in the United States have blamed Beijing for a massive cyber hack of the US federal government which compromised the personal information of millions of government employees. The draft law also follows on the heels of a new national security law China adopted on July 1, which state media claimed would “protect people’s fundamental interests.” But both laws have raised fears may place even tighter control on civil society there, as well as make unreasonable demands on foreign companies doing business with China.

To probe the implications of China’s cybersecurity bill for both Chinese citizens and the world, Foreign Policy solicited opinions from several experts. Sophie Richardson is China director at Human Rights Watch; Sharon Hom is executive director at the New York-based organization Human Rights in China; Jennifer Zhang is a researcher at the Transparency Project at the University of Hong Kong’s Journalism and Media Studies Center.