The Chinese government on Friday (Jan 17) denied that it required companies or individuals to collect data for or provide data to it in a way that violates the law.
Addressing a press conference, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said, "The Chinese government attaches great importance to and protects data privacy and security in accordance with the law."
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"It has never and will never require any enterprise or individual to collect or provide data, information and intelligence located in foreign countries for the Chinese government in violation of local laws," Guo added.
Guo also said that relevant parties should "respect the principles of market economy and fair competition and provide a fair, transparent and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese companies."
The reason for clarification by Beijing
Guo's remarks came as he was asked in the presser about six Chinese companies including TikTok and Xiaomi which had been named in a privacy complaint filed by Austrian advocacy group Noyb claiming the firms were unlawfully sending European Union user data to China.
Citing transparency reports, Noyb had said in its complaint that Alibaba's e-commerce site AliExpress, retailer Shein, TikTok and phone maker Xiaomi admit to sending Europeans’ personal data to China.
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On the other hand, retailer Temu and Tencent's messenger app WeChat transfer data to undisclosed "third countries," likely China, the complaint added.
China vows crackdown on illegal handling of data
Two days back, China's state planner vowed to crack down on black and grey industries that illegally obtained, sold or provided data, a report by the news agency Reuters said.
As part of an effort to prevent misuse of data, authorities urged strengthening data security risk monitoring in key industries and fields, preventing systemic and large-scale data security risks to maintain national security and social stability.
(With inputs from agencies)