China's New Rules Targeting Online Posts Take Military Secrecy Up a Notch

Move in line with overall govt clampdown on information environment, say experts

- Lim Min Zhang

BEIJING - China's announcement that it will tighten and formalise rules on the posting of military information online is expected to have a stifling effect on public discussions about the People's Liberation Army (PLA).

The rules, titled Administrative Measures for the Dissemination of Military Information on the Internet, were issued by the Cyberspace Administration and nine other government departments on Feb 8. They are set to take effect on March 1.

They appear to be aimed at discouraging the public from posting about military matters, lest their posts lead to inadvertent leaks about Chinese capabilities.

The move, experts said, was in line with an overall clampdown on the information environment by the government in the past decade or so, since China's President Xi Jinping took office in 2013.

Among its provisions was to ban the publication of "confidential or undisclosed information" in 16 areas, including those related to military deployments and safety accidents, the testing of weapons and equipment, and the locations of military facilities.

To start a verified "military account" as the rules term it on social media platforms, one must be deemed of "high political, military and confidentiality literacy", belong to a military unit or related official military media, or be a scholar or have long experience in the field.