China’s New Cyber-security Framework to Guard Against US NSA Intrusion

China’s new cyber-security framework which has upset US business groups may have been setup in response to alleged US intrusion into Chinese business and government networks.

China recently announced that it is coming up with a framework or set of guidelines governing the transmission of data and government being able to access such transmission. Though the specifics of this new policy are yet to be unveiled, the largely US dominated computer and banking industries in China has grown apprehensive that the guidelines would force them to bare their networks to government inspectors.

China started working on revising its data security policy following leaks from National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden on US international spy programs that targeted a number of Chinese institutions.

The American Chamber of Commerce in China and 17 other US business lobbies addressed a letter to the Central Leading Small Group for Cyberspace Affairs, led by Chinese President Xi Jinping earlier this week. In the letter, the business groups called on the Chinese government to take part in “urgent discussion and dialogue” over the new cyber-security regulations.

"An overly broad, opaque, discriminatory approach to cyber security policy that restricts global internet and ICT products and services would ultimately isolate Chinese ICT firms from the global marketplace and weaken cyber security, thereby harming China's economic growth and development and restricting customer choice," the group wrote in the letter.

China expects tech companies to set up research and development centers in the country, get permits for workers who service technology equipment, and build "ports" which let Beijing manage and monitor hardware data, according to a report by Reuters.

The financial activities of the software providers will be monitored by Chinese encryption algorithms under the new regulations.