China’s security assurance system includes national defense and security, cybersecurity, and public order. The defense budget has reached 1.55 trillion yuan in China in 2022, thus guaranteeing the advance in the military modernization. The installation of the more than 2 million surveillance cameras across the districts also contributed to an increased public order, and crime prevention and solving efficiency. The Cybersecurity law and Data Security law implementation has also contributed to vast data security advancement in China. The size of the cybersecurity market has already surpassed 70 billion yuan.
China’s current security status
China’s security assurance system has been formed for many years, and now it is a multi-regional and multi-level structure. In terms of national defense, China has achieved great achievements not only in the modernization of the Army, Navy, Air Force. In parallel, significant efforts were made to improve the protection of the homeland with a focus on high technologies, such as cyber defense and information warfare. In recent years, due to the changes in the international security area and increasing tension, China is paying more attention to the development and improvement of its defensive indicator to guarantee national sovereignty and territorial security.
Cybersecurity protection system is also a part of the security structure. Over past years, China has systematically formed its legal framework for cybersecurity and improved the protection of data and privacy of its citizens. One of such programs is the Cybersecurity Law established in 2017, the key purpose of which is to provide legal ground for the protection of digital rights of China’s people. The law aimed to ensure cooperation with internet companies and the government for waging a collaborative effort in protecting cybersecurity.
Another vital area in the security assurance is the public, and here the People’s Republic also has some success. In particular, major cities of China introduced more and improved surveillance equipment and intelligent policing system which enabled to decrease the rate of urban crime. In the framework of such implementation, powerful artificial intelligence was deployed which facilitated crime detection and investigation making. In future, it is also important for rapid response in terms of emergencies and natural disasters.
Cybersecurity and information protection
On the basis of the development of the Internet, cybersecurity has become an integral part of national security. In 2017, China put the Cybersecurity Law into effect, which clarified the responsibilities of the companies, government organizations, and citizens in matters of cybersecurity. This does not only improving the safety of the online platforms but also reducing the risk of data leaks by strict data protection.
To counter the increasing level of threats to data safety, country issued the Data Security Law and the Personal Information Protection Law. The first one obliges the companies to secure the data during its collecting and applying, with individuals facing the penalties for those actions in 2021 China. The second protects the citizens during collecting, storing, processing, and transferring personal information data, clearly defined the punitive mechanism.
According to official data, the size of the cybersecurity protection market in China was 70 billion yuan in 2022, while five years ago, it barely exceeded 30 billion yuan. There is a rapid pace of development for such a large market segment as the cybersecurity infrastructure.In recent years, China has been constantly improving its cybersecurity protection system, primarily in key infrastructure areas, such as finance and power. The country has built a multilevel cybersecurity defense system that, through constant upgrades and deployment of firewalls, encryption technologies, as well as investigation and monitoring of cybersecurity, ensures the safety and stability of China’s digital environment.
Public order security in China
China’s public order security system has been developed for many years, striving to implement an efficient and perfect security management system.For the most part, in the city, especially in the first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen, the Ministry of Public Security of the Chinese government adopts a modern intelligent policing system, linking big data with artificial intelligence technology to predict and prevent crimes, to reactors report of taking criminal activities.
In Beijing public places, there are more than 1 million cameras, apply to the artificial intelligence technology to monitoring in real-time, which played a significant role in improving the resolution rate of cases. China’s public security prevention and control network seizes every level of the city and every level of the rural area, guaranteeing that public security prevention is that all branches of society enjoy the same quality of security guarantees.
In recent years, the number of rural security cases was on a continued decline, for instance, the number of rural criminal cases decreased by 12% in 2021 from the previous year. The assurance of China’s security prevention and control system is digitalizing the public security management professional system. The public security department launched an app called “Safe China” that allows citizens to be safer and offer many functions, such as reports online, real-time monitoring, inquiry criminal records.
For cross-regional crime, its process shared with the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Communications and the Transport Management Bureau, and other departments through a shared platform to obtain cumulative information, quickly mobilize resources for joint law enforcement. During the anti-drug operations taking place across the provinces and track the criminal whereabouts by its platform, the regional blockade can be removed, and the operation is successfully completed. In response to new types of society such as online fraud and high-tech crimes, China has also set up specialized departments in several provinces and cities, and advanced technology has been developed.
Public safety through citizen participation
In China’s security assurance system, citizens’ awareness of and participation in public safety is the most important arrangement in social governance. The government has been promoting citizen participation through various means while encouraging all sectors of society to participate in public safety management. The large multi-layered public safety system was formed.
This mechanism has enabled Huangpu to successfully solve more than 200 community security incidents in 2022, which has increased people’s sense of security. Every year, local governments organize citizens and staff to conduct large-scale disaster prevention and mitigation drills, including earthquake, fire, and flood disasters, and there are nearly ten thousand participants.
In the field of network security, China can focus on the power of the public to ensure safety. In 2018, the government launched a large-scale “national anti-fraud” education campaign to promote the anti-fraud knowledge to all citizens. After the propaganda began, even ordinary citizens could recognize the risks and report the various online telecom scams actively. According to the Guangdong Anti-Fraud Center, since 2022, public reports have successfully prevented more than 10,000 online telecom scams.