Foreign companies selling equipment to Chinese banks will also be required to disclose source code and submit to audits

The Chinese government has issued new regulations which require all companies that sell computer equipment to Chinese banks to turn over secret source code, submit to security audits and build back doors into hardware and software, according to the New York Times.

The Chinese government laid out the new rules in a 22-page document, which NYT said were approved at the end of last year. China says these rules are necessary to strengthen the cyber security in critical Chinese industries.

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However the new regulations have raised fears among the foreign companies especially US companies that China is framing such kind of rules to force them out of one of the largest and fastest-growing markets.

The business groups which include the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, called for “urgent discussion and dialogue” about what they said was a “growing trend” toward policies that cite cybersecurity in requiring companies to use only technology products and services that are developed and controlled by Chinese companies, according to NYT.

The fears of the companies are legitimate and would have them hand over the source code of different hardwares and software to the Chinese government.

Other fear is that the Chinese government would turn this over to the cyber warfare unit of

PLA, who would then find and exploit the zero days and other vulnerabilities to spy on citizens especially Americans.

While China is growing more and more assertive about cyber security, it has also demanded that foreign tech firms make much of their core technology data accessible to the Chinese Government for conducting ‘investigations’.