China Reform Monitor No. 1493

HONG KONG TO BROADEN ITS DEFINITION OF SPYING
Hong Kong security secretary Chris Tang has said that authorities will broaden the scope of the colonial-era Official Secrets Act to expand the definition of espionage to cover the full scope of the activities the government wishes to criminalize. "In the existing Official Secrets Ordinance, the definition of espionage work is rather limited. It covers the approach of prohibited places and the making of information useful to the enemy. We feel that these definitions are not enough for us to combat all manners of espionage activities and risks arising from these," Tang said. The amendments will be made later this year, at the same time as new legislation is tabled under Article 23 of the city's Basic Law governing national security. In 2003, plans to legislate under Article 23 were shelved following popular protests. (Radio Free Asia, January 24, 2022)

AMERICAN FILMS GET ENDING MAKEOVERS IN CHINA
In China, the 1999 movie Fight Club now has a different ending. The film originally ends with all the buildings exploding outside the window on screen, suggesting that the anarchist plot of the movie’s main antagonist, Tyler Durden, had been successful. In the new Chinese version, however, the opposite happens. The explosion sequence has been removed and replaced with a caption: "Through the clue provided by Tyler, the police rapidly figured out the whole plan and arrested all criminals, successfully preventing the bomb from exploding. After the trial, Tyler was sent to lunatic asylum receiving psychological treatment. He was discharged from the hospital in 2012." Similarly, the new Chinese version of the film Lord of War, which is about 30 minutes shorter than the original, replaces the ending with a new caption, saying the titular arms dealer "confessed all the crimes officially charged against him in court, and was sentenced to life imprisonment in the end." (VICE, January 24, 2022)

SCIENTIST DEFECTS WITH DETAILS OF CHINA’S NEW HYPERSONICS
A "rocket scientist" at the China’s Aviation Industry Corp. has defected with the help of MI6 and the CIA. The technician worked on hypersonic boost-glide vehicles that can carry DF-17 missiles and the new hypersonic missile delivery system that can circle the globe before descending from space and using heat-seeking technology to strike any target. In September, he contacted MI6 in Hong Kong with detailed information about the hypersonic glide vehicle. After his information was verified, he was debriefed by a joint MI6/CIA team and then flown to the U.S. via the UK. According to an unnamed source: "[This] man felt aggrieved. His decision to make contact wasn't taken on ideological grounds but rather in a firm belief that his talents should be more greatly appreciated. We estimate it will take China two years to be able to make changes in its program sufficiently substantial as to render this intelligence ineffective." (The Express, January 26, 2022)

EU LAUNCHES WTO CASE AGAINST CHINA OVER LITHUANIA EMBARGO
Having completed its investigation into Beijing’s economic coercion of Lithuania, the European Union has filed a World Trade Organization (WTO) case against China. After it gathered evidence from interviews with affected Lithuanian businesses, the EU requested a consultation with China in Geneva. Brussels says it has evidence that Beijing is refusing to clear Lithuanian goods through customs, rejecting the country’s import applications and pressuring companies operating from other EU member states to remove Lithuanian inputs from their supply chains. "Launching a WTO case is not a step we take lightly. However, after repeated failed attempts to resolve the issue bilaterally, we see no other way forward than to request WTO dispute settlement consultations with China," said EU trade commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis. (South China Morning Post, January 27, 2022)

FORMER TOP INSPECTOR GETS SUSPENDED DEATH SENTENCE FOR CORRUPTION
Dong Hong, who served as deputy head of the central inspection team of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) until 2018, was given a suspended death sentence for taking 463 million yuan ($72.9 million) in bribes. The Qingdao Intermediate People’s Court also ordered the confiscation of his property. In China, a suspended death sentence is usually commuted to life in prison after two years. According to the court, Dong took cash and property as bribes from at least 1999 throughout his time on the CCDI inspection team. In 1999, Dong was secretary to Vice-President Wang Qishan, who was then a vice-governor of Guangdong. In late January, Xi Jinping told CCDI officials to take a "zero tolerance" approach to corruption and that the battle against graft would be a long-term task. (South China Morning Post, January 29, 2022)

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Dong’s case is the latest of several corruption verdicts in recent weeks. Wang Fuyu, former deputy party chief of Guizhou, also received a suspended death sentence for taking 450 million yuan in bribes. Zhou Jianyong, the former party chief of Hangzhou, Zhejiang was also found to have taken bribes. He Xingxiang, a former vice-president of China Development Bank, was expelled from the party for "serious" law violations, including the misuse of financial approval rights, resulting in huge financial loses for the state.]