Illegal surveys and mappings are posing a threat to China's national security, an official with the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping said yesterday.

Such cases are on the rise, with 759 detected last year, many of which involved foreign organizations and individuals, Ma Yun was quoted by Xinhua News Agency as saying.

To check such acts, seven government departments, including the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping, Ministry of Information Industry and National Administration for Protection of State Secrets, have vowed to ensure strict implementation of a new regulation.

The new regulation, issued by the Ministry of Land and Resources, came into effect on March 1. It restricts surveying and mapping by foreigners.

As part of their crackdown, the departments will strengthen control over the "geographical information market".

High accuracy data, precise to within an inch and once employed by the armed forces, could guide weapons such as long-distance missiles to targets in the country.

Hence, the new regulation specifically states that foreign organizations and individuals who intend to conduct surveys and mappings must get the central government's approval first, and can do so only under the supervision of local government officials.

Such organizations and individuals have to have a Chinese partner either in a joint venture or as a cooperator, and cannot take survey or mapping results out of the country.

Moreover, the regulation forbids foreigners from conducting land surveys, taking aerial photographs, mapping administrative border-lines and drawing navigational maps. It also debars them from being involved in activities that could leak State secrets or jeopardize national security.

An increasing number of foreigners have entered the country to conduct surveys or mappings in recent years, with many of them doing so under the guise of tourists, Ma said.

"The number of illegal surveying and mapping cases increased drastically last year and those involving foreigners without approval were serious," he said.

Last April, two Japanese nationals were fined 80,000 yuan ($10,300) and deported for collecting information on an airport and water facilities in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

In another case, a jointly funded electronics company in Weihai, East China's Shandong Province, was fined 30,000 yuan ($3,900) in December for hiring foreign surveyors without the government's approval.

Source: China Daily - Xinhua