China's spy agency now watches for doomsayers

  

China's spy agency now watches for doomsayers



In President Xi Jinping's China, practically anything can be criminalized in the name of national security.
 
Recently, the Ministry of State Security, a government agency primarily in charge of controlling espionage, hinted at a crackdown on pundits critical of the Chinese economy.
 
"False theories about 'China's deterioration' are being circulated to attack China's unique socialist system," it said in a WeChat post earlier this month. The post detailed a key economic policy meeting that had just been held.
 
The ministry believes that realistic explanations about China's harsh economic situation -- or, in its parlance, repeating the false theory put forward by foreign forces that China is in economic decline -- threaten national security.
 
Since Xi took power in 2012, beefing up national security organizations and related laws has been a top priority. From the start, Xi saw that concentrating authority and power would be essential in realizing his ambition of a long-term regime.