Alarm is spreading among foreign businesses as Beijing cranks up its accusations against Rio Tinto, the Australian miner, raising fears that multinationals could find themselves the targets of similar state secrets cases.
China's vague legislation stipulates that any information concerning matters from defence, foreign policy, economic and social development, science and technology, criminal investigations or “other matters” can be classified as a state secret – even if it is already in the public domain.
Until now Chinese lawyers, rights activists and journalists have been the main victims of the legislation. But according to foreign executives and consultants, businesses are now worried they could fall foul of the law. “There is growing uncertainty right now as people realise what risks they could be facing when they are dealing with [Chinese] state companies,” said Jürgen Kracht, managing director of Fiducia, a Hong Kong-based consultancy.