Hong Kong News

Nonpartisan, Noncommercial, unconstrained.
Friday, Mar 29, 2024

China hopes cryptography law will provide security and profitability

China hopes cryptography law will provide security and profitability

Legislation paves the way for blockchain technologies but Beijing is determined national security will not be undermined.
China’s legislature passed a cryptography law on Saturday aimed at safeguarding national security while continuing to promote a rapidly growing encryption industry.

The cryptography law was endorsed by the Standing Committee of the 13th National People’s Congress and will take effect on January 1, 2020, after years of lobbying and public debate.

The law comes at a time when rivalry between China and the US is heating up in areas relating to cryptography, and just a day after President Xi Jinping urged the country to accelerate development of blockchain technologies.

“Cryptography is an important strategic resource for a country,” an official with the State Cryptography Administration was reported to have said by news agency Xinhua on Sunday. “It’s directly related to the country’s political security, economic security, national defence security and information security,” the official added.

According to the law, China’s codes will be categorised into two groups – “core and common codes” that are handled by the state and “commercial code” that can be developed and applied for profit.

In particular, the law stipulates that all business entities, including foreign funded enterprises, should be treated equally in “study, development, production, sales, service and trade” of commercial codes. “Administrations and its employees shall not force transfer of commercial cryptography technologies,” the law stipulates.

At the same time, the main purpose of the law is still about security, experts said.

Zhou Youjun, a law professor at Beihang University, said the law was aimed at “strengthening the management of passwords and to set standards for cryptography for the purpose of protecting cybersecurity and national security”.

Zeng Liaoyuan, an associate professor of information and communication engineering at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, said the law was important to safeguard national security. “The [cryptography] technology develops so fast. If we don’t have laws to support and regulate it, there would be uncontrollable situations,” Zeng said.

For instance, the cryptography law required the government to set China’s encryption standards and encourages Chinese government agencies, business entities and individuals to use these standards, so that China could ensure it had the technology under control, including blockchain technology, Zeng said.

“On that basis, when blockchain technology is applied to different fields, it will have a solid foundation.”

Cryptography is an integral underpinning of blockchain technology, which Xi said China should apply in the fields of finance, education, employment and health care.

Meanwhile, five years after China’s central bank started researching digital currency and blockchain, the country is now rushing to launch a digital currency, with added impetus following Facebook’s announcement in June that it planned to launch its own digital currency, the Libra, next year.

Facebook’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg, said at a congressional hearing last week that China’s quick move in the digital currency could put the US dollar at risk. “If America doesn’t innovate, our financial leadership is not guaranteed,” he said.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Hong Kong News
0:00
0:00
Close
It's always the people with the dirty hands pointing their fingers
Paper straws found to contain long-lasting and potentially toxic chemicals - study
FTX's Bankman-Fried headed for jail after judge revokes bail
Blackrock gets half a trillion dollar deal to rebuild Ukraine
Steve Jobs' Son Launches Venture Capital Firm With $200 Million For Cancer Treatments
Google reshuffles Assistant unit, lays off some staffers, to 'supercharge' products with A.I.
End of Viagra? FDA approved a gel against erectile dysfunction
UK sanctions Russians judges over dual British national Kara-Murza's trial
US restricts visa-free travel for Hungarian passport holders because of security concerns
America's First New Nuclear Reactor in Nearly Seven Years Begins Operations
Southeast Asia moves closer to economic unity with new regional payments system
Political leader from South Africa, Julius Malema, led violent racist chants at a massive rally on Saturday
Today Hunter Biden’s best friend and business associate, Devon Archer, testified that Joe Biden met in Georgetown with Russian Moscow Mayor's Wife Yelena Baturina who later paid Hunter Biden $3.5 million in so called “consulting fees”
'I am not your servant': IndiGo crew member, passenger get into row over airline meal
Singapore Carries Out First Execution of a Woman in Two Decades Amid Capital Punishment Debate
Spanish Citizenship Granted to Iranian chess player who removed hijab
US Senate Republican Mitch McConnell freezes up, leaves press conference
Speaker McCarthy says the United States House of Representatives is getting ready to impeach Joe Biden.
San Francisco car crash
This camera man is a genius
3D ad in front of Burj Khalifa
Next level gaming
BMW driver…
Google testing journalism AI. We are doing it already 2 years, and without Google biased propoganda and manipulated censorship
Unlike illegal imigrants coming by boats - US Citizens Will Need Visa To Travel To Europe in 2024
Musk announces Twitter name and logo change to X.com
The politician and the journalist lost control and started fighting on live broadcast.
The future of sports
Unveiling the Black Hole: The Mysterious Fate of EU's Aid to Ukraine
Farewell to a Music Titan: Tony Bennett, Renowned Jazz and Pop Vocalist, Passes Away at 96
Alarming Behavior Among Florida's Sharks Raises Concerns Over Possible Cocaine Exposure
Transgender Exclusion in Miss Italy Stirs Controversy Amidst Changing Global Beauty Pageant Landscape
Joe Biden admitted, in his own words, that he delivered what he promised in exchange for the $10 million bribe he received from the Ukraine Oil Company.
TikTok Takes On Spotify And Apple, Launches Own Music Service
Global Trend: Using Anti-Fake News Laws as Censorship Tools - A Deep Dive into Tunisia's Scenario
Arresting Putin During South African Visit Would Equate to War Declaration, Asserts President Ramaphosa
Hacktivist Collective Anonymous Launches 'Project Disclosure' to Unearth Information on UFOs and ETIs
Typo sends millions of US military emails to Russian ally Mali
Server Arrested For Theft After Refusing To Pay A Table's $100 Restaurant Bill When They Dined & Dashed
The Changing Face of Europe: How Mass Migration is Reshaping the Political Landscape
China Urges EU to Clarify Strategic Partnership Amid Trade Tensions
The Last Pour: Anchor Brewing, America's Pioneer Craft Brewer, Closes After 127 Years
Democracy not: EU's Digital Commissioner Considers Shutting Down Social Media Platforms Amid Social Unrest
Sarah Silverman and Renowned Authors Lodge Copyright Infringement Case Against OpenAI and Meta
Why Do Tech Executives Support Kennedy Jr.?
The New York Times Announces Closure of its Sports Section in Favor of The Athletic
BBC Anchor Huw Edwards Hospitalized Amid Child Sex Abuse Allegations, Family Confirms
Florida Attorney General requests Meta CEO's testimony on company's platforms' alleged facilitation of illicit activities
The Distorted Mirror of actual approval ratings: Examining the True Threat to Democracy Beyond the Persona of Putin
40,000 child slaves in Congo are forced to work in cobalt mines so we can drive electric cars.
×