Sieren's China: The emperor's gray clothes

Such a law was not necessary. What is now allowed was already possible - the arrest of people that the state believes could disturb public order. Nobel Peace Laureate Liu Xiaobo was imprisoned for 11 years on charges of "inciting state subversion," while the Uighur professor Ilham Tohti was given life imprisonment for "separatism" and the journalist Gao Yu, who has worked for Deutsche Welle, was sentenced to seven years in jail for "disclosing state secrets."

Clearly the hardliners in the government are strong enough to insist upon a formal change and to make their success as visible as possible. Before, they would simply do it, whereas now they are allowed to do it officially. They can "resort to all necessary measures to ensure state sovereignty and harmony."

They struck immediately: At the end of last week - barely a week after the security law was published - over 50 human rights activists and lawyers were arrested or summoned or disappeared in a nationwide raid. Without any official explanation. They included the lawyer of the Uighur professor and Zhang Miao, a journalist who has worked with German weekly "Die Zeit." She was released almost immediately without charge.

Why now?

Who is behind this? Does it indicate a change in the power relations within the leadership? Is this a concession allowing more space for maneuver with regard to economic reforms? Is the law a compromise that the hardliners are using to arrest lawyers on their own authority? Or are the arrests in the interest of the leadership, even that of Xi Jinping, the head of the state and the party, who in view of the big reforms and the economic situation wants to have stability at all costs?

We do not know. What we do know, however, is that the party leadership is much more plural and divided than widely assumed in the West. We also know that if the arrests are met with indifference or even with acceptance by the majority of the population, it is because dissent does not have as long a tradition in China as in the West, meaning that most can put themselves in the shoes of dissidents only with difficulty. However, the government and party's arbitrariness and lack of transparency are getting on the nerves of more and more people - because every day they themselves are becoming the victims of arbitrariness and lack of transparency. That is making them angry.

With the new security law, the government is ensuring that power relations remain in its favor by declaring almost all areas affairs of "national security." These range from territorial disputes in the South China Sea, the Antarctic and even space, to environmental issues, food security and religion. The intensified monitoring of the internet is not barred and nor is the stricter regulation of foreign firms.

Beijing is tightening the reins

China is not the only country that has wrapped itself up in a legal gray zone to nip potential dangers in the bud. The detention camp of Guantanamo Bay is a similar example, but it is an exception in the US. Lawyers there can at least fight against it without fearing arrest. They even have a credible chance of obtaining justice for their clients sooner or later. It's different in China - more than ever since the security law came into effect.

It's paradoxical that the more the country opens up and becomes connected to the rest of the world, the more Beijing is tightening the reins. Three further security laws are currently under examination. First, there is an anti-terrorism law which would force Chinese internet companies to build hidden back doors into their programs for the government. This recalls the beginning of the year when the Chinese authorities demanded that foreign financial institutes publish the source codes of their software for better surveillance.

There is also a draft law to control foreign NGOs more strictly and one that would limit foreign investment even more. The same holds true here as for the security law. Taking a tough line on foreign companies and keeping Western NGOs on a tight leash might go down well with the population, but more arbitrariness and lack of transparency are a very high price for state and party leader Xi to pay. By doing this, he is only consolidating his power temporarily.


DW correspondent Frank Sieren has lived in Beijing for 20 years.