Critical information infrastructure of the People’s Republic of China: peculiarities of legal regulation in the area of ensuring information security of the financial-banking sector

Abstract

The object of this research is the legal relations emerging in regulation of critical information infrastructure with regards to ensuring information security of the financial-banking sector of the People’s Republic of China. Characteristic is given to the Law on Cybersecurity, acting and developing draft bills of the People’s Republic of China in the area of security of critical information infrastructure. The author examines the peculiarities of regulation of relations in the sphere of critical information infrastructure and their role in ensuring cybersecurity of financial-banking sector. Factors affecting formation of the national mechanism of ensuring security of critical information infrastructure are determined. For the purpose of acquiring most accurate scientific results, the author applies legal-dogmatic approach, hermeneutic and synergetic methods of scientific cognition. Despite the numerous existing and developing sources of legal regulation of critical information infrastructure, the normative mechanism of ensuring its security is characterized by interrelatedness, and reflects overall character of the regime of China’s digital policy. The Law on Cybersecurity of the People’s Republic of China establishes the general norms, as well as draft bills – special norms; and the standards contain high-tech methodical recommendations that allow clarifying possible ambiguity of general and special norms. However, even within the limits of this mechanism is observed a partial overlap of responsibilities, including in the financial-banking sector, which complicates the process of identification of objects and determination of subjects of critical information infrastructure. Establishment of the mechanism is also perplexed by the need of simultaneous achievement of goals in the spheres of national security and economy, particularly in opposition during talks with the United States, which promotes policy of economic expansion onto China’s market, using tariff and nontariff measures as the levers of pressure.