The National Administration of State Secret Protection (NASSP; ) of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

is an institution of the

State Council of the People's Republic of China The State Council, constitutionally synonymous with the Central People's Government since 1954 (particularly in relation to local governments), is the chief administrative authority of the People's Republic of China. It is chaired by the pr ...

that is responsible for the protection of

classified information Classified information is material that a government body deems to be sensitive information that must be protected. Access is restricted by law or regulation to particular groups of people with the necessary security clearance and need to kn ...

. The name was translated as National Administration for the Protection of State Secrets (NAPSS). It is also the Office of the Central Secrecy Commission (), a subordinate organization of the

General Office A General Office (also known as "administrative office") is an important administrative political organ in the communist party organizations and communist countries (such as China, Laos and Vietnam for instance). Generally speaking, the General Offi ...

of the

Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, officially the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is a political body that comprises the top leaders of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It is currently composed of 205 fu ...

Overview

The ''

Criminal Law Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It prescribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and moral welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal law ...

of the

'' (which is not operative in the Special Administrative Regions of

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...

and

Macao Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a po ...

) makes it a crime to release a state secret. Under the 1989 "''Law on Guarding State Secrets'',"Standing Committee of the National People's Congress,
Law on Guarding State Secrets
" (中华人民共和国保守国家秘密法), promulgated 1988 and effective 1989. state secrets are defined as those that concern: # Major policy decisions on state affairs; # The building of national defence and in the activities of the armed forces; # Diplomatic activities and in activities related to foreign countries and those to be maintained as commitments to foreign countries; # National economic and social development; # Science and technology; # Activities for preserving state security and the investigation of criminal offences; and # Any other matters classified as "state secrets" by the national State Secrets Bureau.Translation per Human Rights in China (pdf),
State Secrets: China's Legal Labyrinth
,'' (2007). Secrets can be classified into one of three categories: * Top secret (): Defined as "vital state secrets whose disclosure would cause extremely serious harm to state security and national interests"; * Highly secret (): Defined as "important state secrets whose disclosure would cause serious harm to state security and national interests"; and * Secret (): Defined as "ordinary state secrets whose disclosure would cause harm to state security and national interests".

References

Government agencies of China National security institutions {{PRChina-gov-stub