Hillary Clinton is very vocal with her criticism on China's cybersecurity laws. (Photo : Getty Images)
A letter was sent to Premier Li Keqiang from 46 international business groups in the sectors of spanning finance, information technology, insurance, and manufacturing. The letter aimed to convince Beijing to change its laws on cybersecurity.
Representatives of the signed business groups are from Asia, Australia, the United States, Mexico and Europe.
China's draft security law has just concluded its second reading. The law will be enacted after the third, and the international community is imploring the China to revise the law's provisions.
In the letter, the groups stated, "'Trade-inhibiting security reviews' for information and communications, technology products, and services under the rules may weaken security and constitute technical barriers to trade under the World Trade Organization."
Business groups are concerned that when China's cyber security laws are passed, foreign companies will not be able to compete in the market.
They added, "The current drafts if implemented, would weaken security and separate China from the global digital economy."
The new cyber laws prohibit foreign tech companies like Google to enter the Chinese market. The government said that this was "needed to ensure security against growing threats such as terrorism."
Aside from increasing trade restrictions on foreign investment, the new law will also increase powers of the Chinese government to access or block information that it deemed threatening or illegal.
U.S. Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton attacked China for unfair play with its international partners and is abusing companies to get information.
She said, "China is trying to hack into everything that doesn't move in America--stealing commercial secrets, blueprints from defense contractors, stealing huge amounts of government information, all looking for an advantage."
The business groups are lobbying for consideration from China and hope that this will push for negotiations at the G20 Summit in China next month.
