The Beijing Government is encouraging citizens to catch foreign spies

The Beijing government is taking the idea of citizen’s arrest to a new level.

They are calling on locals to catch foreign spies, offering a reward of up to 500,000 yuan ($97,000 AUD) for tip-offs to police. 

3AW Breakfast’s Kate Stevenson thinks if you’re not guilty then you ‘don’t have anything to worry about.’

John Blaxland, Professor of International Security and Intelligence Studies at Australia National University says even the innocent should ‘expect to be monitored.’

‘Australian’s should assume they are being watched, not only on the streets but in their hotel rooms and wherever they are conducting business,’ he told 3AW Breakfast. 

China already has policies in place to monitor people electronically, such as through their accounts and prohibiting them from accessing certain social media sites. 

Professor Blaxland says this is the human side of their security. 

‘China has so many resources it can allocate to monitoring the relative small number of foreigners doing business or activities in China.’

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