It has been currently in the news that Chinese citizens can enjoy up to a cash reward amount of more than $15,000 (around 100,000 Yuan) on reporting or ‘tipping-off’ the national police about national security breaches. This move has been adopted by the Chinese government in relation to the new and intensifying threats that have been swayed from a series of foreign intelligence agencies.
Recently, the Chinese national security threat has been as issue with growing concerns over China’s internal disturbances, which is believed to be a result of expanding role of various foreign agencies. Taking consideration of the current situation, the Chinese government has put forth a new set of rules, which as a media reported had stated, is to be ruled out for standardisation of the existing ones; the whistleblower is to be awarded with a sum of around 10,000 Yuan (around 1500USD) to 100,000 Yuan (around 1500 USD), depending upon the depth of the breach reported by a citizen.
The rewards are an effort to appreciate the efforts of the Chinese citizens and can be in forms of ‘spiritual reimbursements’ which can have various forms such as certificates of appreciation or ‘material rewards’ that will include cash prizes.
As per the rules meted out by the government, it reads, “Those who have played a major role and made major contributions to preventing, suppressing and punishing acts that seriously endanger national security will be rewarded between 30,000 Yuan and 100, 000 Yuan,”
Another interesting factor related to this feat is that Chinese citizens residing in foreign countries can also claim this reward if they successfully highlight issues pertaining to national security or bust their compatriots that are actively contributing against Chinese interests.
In a recent most development, the top security authorities of China, led by the security minister of the Chinese state, conducted a press meet in order to specify and clarify the methods, conditions and procedures of this particular reward functioning, which is closely abided by the standards of the National Security Law and the Anti-Espionage Law, along with other state regulations. These regulations can be found in detail in the Global Times state-run tabloid.
Pertaining to this announcement by the Chinese government, the state security ministry representative remarked, “The formulation of these regulations is conducive to fully mobilising the enthusiasm of the general public to support and assist in national security work, widely rallying the hearts, morale, wisdom and strength of the people.”
The new set of rules reiterates a version to “witness protection program”, which has high scope of implementation if linked with personal safety of the informants alongside their families, who might be in danger for reporting crucial acts against national security.
This is not the first time the Chinese officials have adopted this measure to expose crimes, it is an old technique of theirs; China has been recorded to offer its citizens a handsome sum to expose foreign spies or other security violations. One such incident was in 2017, when the Chinese government offered a reward of up to 500,000 Yuan (about 75,000 USD) for reporting information about suspected foreign spies.
