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Guarding the Great Wall: Breakdown of New Regulations on the Protection of Important Military-Industrial Facilities
Anushka Saxena
On May 26, 2025, China published the full text of the ‘Regulations on the Protection of Important Military-Industrial Facilities’ (重要军工设施保护条例). The ‘Regulations’, promulgated jointly by the State Council and the Central Military Commission, shall come into force w.e.f. September 15, 2025.
These Regulations likely act as the implementation arm of, and literally, the ‘regulatory’ framework for, the PRC Law on the Protection of Military Installations. The Law was formulated by the Standing Committee of the 13th National People’s Congress (NPC). Xi Jinping signed Presidential Order No. 87 to promulgate it, and it has been in effect since August 1, 2021.
A reading of the new Regulations reveals quite an important and interesting policy approach for bringing about what is referred to as “protection of important military industrial facilities.” Mainly, there are four things to look at to understand how the implementation will pan out – definitions, stakeholders and their roles, measures and methods of protection, and penalties.
Definitions
First and foremost, the Regulations delineate what “important military industrial facilities” mean. Loosely, it refers to the following buildings, sites, and installations directly used by enterprises and public institutions undertaking national defence research and production tasks for important weaponry research, production, testing, storage, and other activities:
Sites of research and production management institutions, technical research and development, manufacturing assembly, and maintenance support sites;
Sites and installations used for testing and trials;
Finished product warehouses and storage for major hazardous materials;
Archives, communication centers, and data centers;
Communication, observation, and navigation stations;
Dedicated ports, docks, airports, dedicated railway lines, dedicated railways, and dedicated roads;
Other important military industrial facilities stipulated by the State Council and the Central Military Commission.
It also brings the protection work for important military-industrial facilities under the ambit of the Overall National Security Concept (ONSC). This was expected, given that the 12th May National Security White Paper pretty much brought all aspects of security under the ONSC umbrella. When an individual legislative priority becomes part of a national strategy such as the ONSC, its importance is aggravated in cadres’ eyes.
Stakeholders
This is, in my opinion, the most fascinating part of the Regulations’ provisions. It is advised that the competent department of national defense science and technology industry under the State Council (国务院国防科技工业主管部门) supervises and manages the protection of important military industrial facilities nationwide, with the Equipment Development Department of the Central Military Commission coordinating related duties. Other relevant departments of the State Council and the Central Military Commission are instructed to perform related work according to their responsibilities.
Here, the “competent Science, Tech & Industry department” of the State Council likely refers to the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (SASTIND). It currently comes under the ambit of the PRC Industry and Information Technology Ministry (MIIT), under the State Council. SASTIND its best known for its decadal National Defense Science and Technology Industry 2025 Plan (国防科技 ⼯业 2025), released in June 2015.
Provinces also operate with versions of local S&T and industry defence administrations (省级国防科技工业管理部门), affiliated with SASTIND. Accordingly, local people’s governments at or above the county level have been accorded the main responsibility of protecting important military industrial facilities within their administrative regions [note: local governments would include all five local administrative divisions’ governments – village, township, country, prefecture, and province]. Local departments of national defense science and technology industry and other relevant departments at or above the county level are also instructed related work within their respective duties.
Why this is fascinating, is because so far, we knew by virtue of the amendments to the State Council Organic Law at the ‘Two Sessions’ in March 2024, that the State Council was to act more and more as the implementation arm of the party. The new Regulations truly embody and exemplify this change, and in fact, give SASTIND the responsibility over and above the CMC to make sure important military industrial facilities are secured, local governments do their jobs well, and warnings and penalties are imposed in case they don’t. This is not to say that the State Council is gaining any of its power and status back – it just indicates that for the party-state, implementation is the most arduous and risky task. Per usual, any implications are left for the State Council to deal with, and the weight of the some funding for this programme is to be undertaken by local governments.
Perhaps the most important stakeholders, however, are the military facility ‘management units’ (重要军工设施管理单位). Enterprises and public institutions (could range from universities and research labs to government buildings and military units) in whose jurisdiction important military industrial facilities are locate, are termed as the management units of such facilities. In accordance with these regulations, relevant laws and regulations, and national provisions, they are responsible for the protection of important military industrial facilities, and shall provide personnel, funds, materials, and technical support for their protection, continuously improving the level of protection for important military industrial facilities.
Largely, this indicates that local administrative management units shall be responsible for funding measures of protection, as well as seeing the whole process through. The obligations that are part of this role include:
Establishing and improving the protection system and responsibility system for important military industrial facilities, perfecting assessment mechanisms, and ensuring the safety, confidentiality, and operational efficiency of such facilities;
Implementing safety management throughout the construction, use, and maintenance of important military industrial facilities;
Regularly training its personnel, educating them to cherish important military industrial facilities, implementing safety protection requirements, and keeping state secrets regarding such facilities;
Establishing archives for important military industrial facilities, regularly inspecting and maintaining them, and upgrading security protection measures as needed;
Formulating emergency response plans for the protection of important military industrial facilities and conducting regular emergency drills; and
Regularly organising risk assessments for the safety protection of important military industrial facilities and promptly identifying and eliminating safety hazards.
An additional responsibility accorded to these management units, is making sure that if they are a public security unit, a counter-espionage unit, or a unit responsible for civil air defence or protection of citizens from terrorist attacks, they must not let military facility protection work distract them from the unit’s goals and mandates on ground. In this regard, some such units are also instructed to clearly designate internal functional departments and personnel to undertake their mandated responsibilities.
Other local and central agencies, such as the Natural Resources Ministry, radio management agencies, and housing and urban-rural development departments, are to be roped in based on the domain of protection.
Measures
This is obviously the most detailed bit of the Regulations. It can be interesting to analyse the suggested security measures for protection of important military industrial facilities to understand how national security policy and law in China is implemented.
Measures for protection are divided across facilities in different geo-located/ spatial domains. There are primarily six – land, water, air, rail, road and electronic/ cyber. Each domain has designated instructions on forming a protection zone around the important facility, forming an additional safety control area around the protected zone (if necessary), rules on expanding protected zone, rights of locals, etc. Key takeaways are as follows:
The SASTIND, together with CMC and local governments, expected to prepare a list of “important military-industrial facilities,” based on the nature of the work being performed there and the risk level of a breach of security. Such a list is not to be made public.
Subsequently, the process of bringing about a protection zone first requires its management unit to draft a proposal for the zone. The scope of this zone must not exceed the land and maritime (including island) areas actually used by the facility. This draft is submitted to the provincial-level department responsible for national defense science and technology industry. The provincial department coordinates a review with:
Other relevant provincial government departments,
The local county-level or city-level government,
Relevant military authorities.
After this joint review, the proposal is submitted to the people’s government of the relevant province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the central government for approval. Once approved, the provincial-level department must, within 15 days, report the delineation of the protection zone to the national-level department in charge of national defense science and technology industry under the State Council. This process ensures that the scope of protection zones is strictly limited to the areas in use by the facility and involves multiple levels of government and military oversight before final approval and reporting.
If it is necessary to delineate or adjust the scope of the important military industrial facility protection zone due to the construction of important military industrial facilities, such delineation or adjustment must be completed before the commencement of the construction project, except as otherwise approved by the competent department of national defense science and technology industry under the State Council.
Once approved, land-based protection zones must build walls, set up fences, or other barriers for land-based protection zones, and set up barriers or boundary markers for water-based protection zones. If, due to terrain or other objective reasons, it is not possible to build walls or set up fences for land-based protection zones, the management unit shall set up warning signs around the perimeter and adopt technical protective measures.
Subsequently, within the land-based zone, there must be sentry posts based on entry and exit checkpoints, employ electronic surveillance, identity verification, access control, vehicle barriers, and other technical protection measures, and conduct security checks on personnel, vehicles, and goods entering and leaving. Same requirements apply to critical scientific testing facilities, with the additional requirement of submitting an application with a 15-day notice period by the management unit to local governments, in case they engage in testing that requires temporary prohibition on entry of personnel, vehicles, vessels, or aircraft in the protection zone.
Water-based protection zones will require relevant maritime administrative agencies to publicly announce the location and boundaries of the water-based protection zone. Protection zones in sea areas shall be marked on nautical charts.
In terms of airspace, within an airport airspace protection area, it is prohibited to construct buildings, structures, or other facilities exceeding the protection standards, or to engage in activities that affect flight safety or the effectiveness of airport navigation aids.
Airport management units shall regularly inspect the airspace protection area. If any construction exceeds the standards, they shall promptly report to the department of national defense science and technology industry and other relevant departments, which shall handle the matter in accordance with the law.
Flight activity in the protected airspace is liable to be restricted, and local governments shall formulate protection measures and require relevant units to set up flight obstacle markers on tall buildings or structures within the airspace protection area.
Within the electromagnetic environment protection area of radio fixed facilities or electromagnetic testing facilities serving as important military industrial facilities, it is prohibited to construct or install equipment or electromagnetic obstacles that affect their operational efficiency, or to engage in activities that affect their electromagnetic environment.
The scope and measures for electromagnetic environment protection for such facilities shall be jointly determined by military and local radio management agencies in accordance with national regulations and standards. The use of such facilities must comply with national radio management regulations.
For dedicated railway lines or railways that cannot have a protection zone delineated, a railway safety protection zone shall be established on both sides of the line in accordance with the Railway Safety Management Regulations and publicly announced. The management unit of such dedicated railways shall set up appropriate safety protection facilities and strengthen management and protection of the railway. One can usually expect military rail lines, transporting troops and cargo, to be delineated as protected zones.
Dedicated roads that cannot have a protection zone delineated must not be occupied or excavated without authorization. If occupation, excavation, crossing, or use of the land for engineering purposes is necessary, approval must be obtained in advance from the provincial-level department of national defense science and technology industry.
It is prohibited to pile objects, set up obstacles, discharge pollutants in roadside ditches, or engage in other activities affecting safety and smooth passage within the dedicated road or its land area. It is also prohibited to engage in blasting, sand excavation, or quarrying that endanger the safety or operational efficiency of the road on both sides. One can usually expect border roads and highways to be part of the protected zones programme.
For some facilities, there are provisions for the extension of the protected zone through a safety control area. If the protective measures within the protection zone are insufficient to ensure the safety, confidentiality, or operational efficiency of important military industrial facilities, or if the facilities within the protection zone have significant hazards, the provincial, autonomous region, or municipal government may, based on the nature of the facility, terrain, and local economic and social development, delineate a safety control area outside the protection zone and set up security warning signs on its outer boundary.
Why the local economic and social development bit is crucial, is because the control area can impinge on the rights of residents and beneficiaries there. Hence, the Regulations suggest that if delineating the safety control area affects the rights of property owners or usufructuaries, compensation shall be provided in accordance with relevant laws and regulations. Tourist attractions cannot be built in safety control area or protection zones.
The provisions for protection of important military-industrial facilities seem comprehensive, but can churn challenges vis-à-vis the local governments’ ability to fund protected zone markers, safety and security measures, compensation for impingement on the rights of property owners, and regular checks and sustained management (including emergency protocol systems). Ensuring business interests of private developers, especially in terms of avoiding high-rises near restricted airspace, would also be essential. Needless to say, the hurdles created by excessive bureaucratic approval-taking, and coordination b/w a host of departments and ministries, can lead to both delays and corruption.
Punishments
Article 41 of the Regulations discusses which acts are liable to be legally punished (through warnings and fines by public admin agencies, or by the interventions of the State Security Ministry if the crime is that of espionage), or prosecuted in criminal court [it does not seem that the management units have penalty imposition authority, save in on-ground/ heat of the moment cases]:
Unauthorized entry into the protection zone of an important military industrial facility;
Engaging in activities within the external safety control area of the protection zone that endanger the safety and operational effectiveness of important military industrial facilities;
Engaging in activities within the airspace protection area of an airport serving as an important military industrial facility that affect flight safety or the effectiveness of airport navigation aids;
Illegally photographing, filming, recording, sketching, documenting, surveying, measuring, or positioning within the protection zone of an important military industrial facility, or illegally using such materials from the protection zone;
Damaging or moving walls, barriers, boundary markers, warning signs, technical protection equipment, signage of the protection zone, safety warning signs of the external safety control area, or other important military industrial facility signs;
Intentionally interfering with the normal operation of important military industrial radio facilities in violation of state regulations, or causing harmful interference and refusing to correct it as required by the competent authority;
Violating control measures during scientific research, production, or testing activities involving important military industrial facilities; and
Other acts that disrupt the order of scientific research and production within the protection zone or endanger the safety of important military industrial facilities.
For most construction-related activities that break the bounds of law on protected zones, the punishment would include demolition of the construction, and a fine. For example, if a builder constructs a 10-storey building in a protected airspace zone that only allows 3 storeys, the 7 extra storeys are liable to be demolished. A fine is also to be paid by the builder to the local authorities. Similarly, if Electromagnetic Interference from devices being used around a protected area affect the operational effectiveness of radio fixed facilities or electromagnetic testing facilities, such devices shall be seized or removed by force.
The amount of the fines is only specified for two punishable offences:
Anyone who, in violation of these regulations, occupies or excavates dedicated roads without authorization, or engages in blasting, sand excavation, quarrying, or other activities on both sides of a dedicated road that endanger the safety or operational effectiveness of the road, shall be ordered by the competent department of transportation to stop the illegal act and may be fined up to 30,000 yuan.
Anyone who, in violation of these regulations, piles objects, sets up obstacles, discharges pollutants in roadside ditches, or engages in other activities within the dedicated road or its land area that affect safety and smooth passage, causing damage, pollution, or obstruction to the road, shall be ordered by the competent department of transportation to stop the illegal act and may be fined up to 5,000 yuan.
While exact criminal liability is not discussed in the Regulations, it is to be determined by authorities based on reportage of an offence committed. It is likely that criminal liability will be imposed on public officials for engaging in dereliction of duty, abuse of power, or malpractices for personal gain in the protection of important military industrial facilities. It can also be imposed for “serious losses” to the protected facility, under relevant nat-sec laws.
The timeline for bringing the law into effect extends till September 15, 2025, giving the State Council, CMC and local authorities time to come up with protectecd zone lists, specific requirements not specified in the Regulations, and nitty-gritties of protection markers and punitive measures. The implementation process would be engaging to observe later in the year.
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