Chinese citizens offered money and ‘spiritual’ reward to inform on suspected ‘enemies of the state’

China will provide rewards of up to $20,000 in a campaign aimed at mobilising its people to help maintain party rule.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has made national security a “bottom-line” issue.

China has announced that it will offer up to £12,000 ($20,900) and “spiritual” rewards for anyone who informs on people they suspect of being enemies of the state.

Under a law “standardising” its incentives, the government said it hoped to “encourage citizens to report acts harming state security” and “mobilise all social resources to maintain national security”.

The Ministry of State Security said the plan was “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”.

Rewards for tip-offs start at ¥10,000 yuan ($2080) and may rise to 10 times that amount based on the usefulness of the information. Informants, who are encouraged to report under their real names, can also be awarded “spiritually” with certificates acknowledging their service to the state.

The rules apply to tips involving people at home and overseas, as Beijing has become particularly wary in recent years of hostile foreign forces seeking to subvert party rule.

President Xi Jinping has made national security a “bottom-line” issue. In 2015, two years after he took office, he signed a new national security law with sweeping clauses covering political security, homeland security, military security, cultural security and technological security. Educational videos were released to tell children and teenagers to look out for suspicious activities, including by their parents, and instruct them on how to dial a hotline.

Cash rewards also have been offered to incentivise informants, although different local governments have had different rules. Last year, the city of Beijing handed out more than ¥250,000 to about 70 citizens who came forward with useful information on suspected terrorism and violence.

A local official in the southwest city of Bije was rewarded “spiritually” and “materially” last year by both the national state security ministry and the provincial state security bureau after they reported on an American journalist in the city to report on its poverty reduction campaign.

The journalist was described as “continuously sneaking into the city”, “reporting illegally on the negative side” of the campaign, and “hyping it overseas”.

“Such clues have provided strong support for the state security apparatus to investigate cases and eliminate safety hazards in a timely manner,” the Bije government said.

In the southern city of Guangzhou, a resident identified as Mr Fu was given money after he reported a driver for spreading information about a cult. Fu had recorded the conversation and passed it, along with the driver’s details, to the provincial state security bureau.

Two villagers near the southern city of Shanwei, which is close to a military base, were given cash rewards for reporting a pair of visitors who were photographing the local bulletin board. A report in the People’s Daily, the Chinese Communist Party’s mouthpiece, said they might have been seeking clues to possible drills.

The Times