United States officials and foreign and local  technology companies in China are up in arms over a draft Chinese counter-terrorism law requiring companies to provide Beijing with surveillance access, and enable the country to acquire proprietary information or face ouster from the domestic market.

Like Us on Facebook

The proposed law was an offshoot of the recent revelation on US intelligence-gathering activities and the increasing mistrust between Washington and Beijing over their respective cybersecurity measures.

Despite the strong opposition from the foreign tech market, China still remains a very lucrative investment location with the tech giants spending $140 billion on tech products and services in 2014 alone.

Beijing has incorporated several provisos in the draft law whereby foreign and domestic telecommunications and internet service providers will give surveillance access to Chinese authorities, provide the mainland their encryption codes, and help Chinese officials in decrypting codes when asked.

The draft law also contains a proviso requiring the tech companies to store Chinese users' data which will be stored on servers in the Chinese mainland. Failure to meet this requirement will mean the end of operations for the foreign companies in China.

Business groups and industry insiders said they were worried on the range and scope of the proposed anti-terrorism law and that they were unsure if the companies will be able to carry out the requirements.

Robert Atkinson, a Washington-based think tank,  said US tech companies are facing a difficult decision on whether they want to stay in China or not and submit to the surveillance proviso as contained in the draft law.

Reports said Washington has called on Beijing to address the issue in a letter sent in February. The letter was signed by US Secretary of State John Kerry.

U.S. officials said the draft law is one of the cybersecurity measures of China that could hurt foreign tech businesses in the mainland.

U.S. major tech companies in China such as Apple Inc and Microsoft Corp as well as the LinkidIn Inc and Samsung have yet to issue statements on the proposed law.

Tagscounter-terrorism