China police offer citizens up to $15,000 for reporting national security breaches

Chinese citizens living abroad could also claim the reward if they report correctly on their compatriots who are acting against China’s interest, the rules added

BEIJING: Chinese citizens can get cash rewards of more than 100,000 yuan ($15,000) if they tip-off the police on national security breaches, the government has announced as it moves against, what it said, were intensifying threats from foreign intelligence agencies.

Paramilitary police officers stand guard on the Tiananmen Square before the closing session of the National People’s Congress (NPC) in Beijing, China on March 11, 2022. (REUTERS)

Under the new set of rules, which a state media report said, standardised existing ones, the whistleblower will be awarded anything between 10,000 yuan ($1,500) and above 100,000 yuan depending on the seriousness of the reported breach.

On offer for citizens are “spiritual rewards”, in the form of certificates, or “material rewards” of cash from 10,000 yuan onwards.

“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,” the rules said.

Chinese citizens living abroad could also claim the reward if they report correctly on their compatriots who are acting against China’s interest, the rules added.

In the new release, China’s top security authorities, led by the state security ministry, specified and clarified the conditions, methods, standards and procedures for rewarding citizens’ reports in accordance with the National Security Law, the Anti-Espionage Law and other laws and regulations, according to a report in the state-run tabloid, Global Times.

“The formulation of the measures 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 security ministry representative said, according to the state-run Legal Daily.

The new rules said a version of a “witness protection programme” could be implemented in case the personal safety of the informants and their families are in danger because of the reporting of acts endangering national security.

China has a precedent of offering rewards to citizens for exposing foreign spies or other security violations.

In 2017, for example, the Beijing municipal bureau for state security offered up to 500,000 yuan (about $75,000) for information on suspected foreign spies.

The “pressing” need for new measures to guard against foreign spies is an unfortunate side-effect of China’s reform and opening up to the world, the official Beijing Daily newspaper reported then.