Provisions of criminal laws

Punishment for the crime of espionage and the forms of espionage

According to the provisions of the Criminal Law, any person who endangers the security of the country by committing the acts of espionage, commits the crime of espionage and shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than ten years or life imprisonment; if the circumstances are relatively light, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years.

The activities of espionage can be classified into the following three kinds of situations:

(1) Joining an espionage organization and becoming a member of the espionage organization and a member of the spy. So-called espionage organization is mainly refers to organizations established by foreign governments with the purpose of persuading civil servants, people and business organizations to against China, getting into the state institutions and organizations of China for penetration, stealing, spying on, buying or illegally providing state secrets and intelligence, and conducting activities of subversion and sabotage. To join an espionage organization, a person may go through a certain procedure, or although he is not officially joined, in fact he has been engaged in the activity as a member of the espionage organization.

(2) Accepting a mission assigned by an espionage organization or its agents. This refers to the situation that a person under the command, dispatching, instigation or entrust of an espionage organization or its agents, serves for the espionage organization and conducts activities endangering national security. The agents of an espionage organization refers persons who are instigated, entrusted or financially supported by the espionage organization or its members, and direct or tell another person to conduct activities endangering the national security of China.

(3) Directing the enemy to any bombing or shelling target. It refers to the activities of providing major military facilities, construction sites, cities, and etc. related to the national security of China to enemies aiming at military aggression to China.

Any person who commits any of the above three kinds of activities commits the crime of espionage, and it does not require to conduct all the three kinds of activities.