It is no secret that China is well quite…secret. The nation has now strengthened its privacy through introducing its new espionage laws targeting foreign individuals, ahead of the Communist Party’s anniversary celebrating 100 years of power.  

Canadian Michael Spavor and former diplomat Michael Kovrig have recently felt the brunt of this, arrested and enduring a private trial in China for charges relating to “spying and illegal provision of state secrets abroad”. Two years since their arrest, the trial concluded in March, following Canada’s accusations against China for its use of “hostage diplomacy” given the arrests occurred just days after Canadian officials detained Meng Wanzhou, a senior executive at Chinese technology giant Huawei on a US warrant. Whilst the trial was kept private due to the disclosure of “state secrets”, the mystery deepens given the verdict will be announced on an undisclosed date.

Mr Spavor is the founder of the Paektu Cultural Exchange, which aims to facilitate international business relations with North Korea and the organisation helped to develop the friendship between former U.S basketballer Denis Rodman and Kim Jong-Un. Canadian Prime Minister labelled the private trial as “completely unacceptable”.

On Monday, Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported that the purpose is that "overseas espionage and intelligence agencies and hostile forces have intensified infiltration into China, and broadened their tactics of stealing secrets in various ways and in more fields, which poses a serious threat to China's national security and interests” as outlined by the Ministry of State Security. It further warned that spies will target young internet users through the use of money, friendship or beauty, citing a recent case of a journalism student who worked for a Western media outlet where they are accused of “engaging with more than 20 hostile foreign groups and more than a dozen officials of a Western country” with information that could be used to “stigmatise China”. 

The United States has expressed its concern about the persistent push for “global power” and its “aggressive use of surveillance”, with it announcing this as the biggest threat to the nation ahead of Russia, Iran and North Korea. In 2018, American businessman Kai Li was tried in private and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for allegedly providing Chinese state secrets to the FBI which have been described by his family as “grossly mischaracterised by Chinese authorities as espionage”.

Since Spavor and Kovrig were detained more than 800 days ago, they have had minimal contact with the outside world and limited access to Chinese lawyers. Officials from various embassies including Canada, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Denmark, Australia and Sweden stood in solidarity after being banned from entering the courtroom, with Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneut announcing "the eyes of the world are on these cases and proceedings and I want to thank our international partners for their continued support and solidarity." The diplomatic officials have argued the case is a breach of international law, with various departments claiming that the “reason has been given it’s a so-called national security case and their belief is that the domestic law overrides international law”. To further add to the frustration, Chinese courts have a conviction rate of over 99 percent.

The tightening of these laws are likely to further ignite a “tit-for-tat” relationship between the U.S and China, following an alleged soar in cases against Chinese nationals on charges relating to the theft of trade secrets. On 1st March 2021, the “Amendment to the Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China (11)” was brought into effect and contains an article similar to the U.S Economic Espionage Act, bolstering the sentencing to up to ten years imprisonment for theft of Chinese intellectual property.

From here, more cases will undoubtedly be brought before the courts in the quest to protect China’s state secrets, whatever these may be.