Interpreting the newly revised Law on the Protection of Military Facilities： Providing Strong Legal Protection

　　□ Reporter Pu Xiaolei

　　On June 10th, the 29th session of the 13th the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) voted to pass the newly revised Law on the Protection of Military Facilities. The newly revised law will come into effect on August 1 this year.

　　In recent years, the internal and external environment of national security and development has changed profoundly, and the protection of military facilities is facing new situations and task requirements: hostile forces abroad are increasingly rampant in spying and stealing secrets from China, and the security situation of important military facilities is more severe; With the rapid development of national economic construction and new urbanization, there are more problems that need to be coordinated between military facilities protection and economic and social development, and the coordination is more difficult; The party, the state and the army have deepened reforms in an all-round way, and the institutional setup and functional allocation have undergone great changes, which urgently need to be adjusted and improved according to the new system and new functions after the reform.

　　In an interview with reporters, the drafting class on the revision of the Law on the Protection of Military Facilities said that these issues are related to the preparation of military struggle, economic and social development, and the relationship between the military, the government and the people. It is urgent to further optimize and improve the legal system. In this context, the revision of the Law on the Protection of Military Facilities is conducive to providing a strong legal guarantee for the protection of military facilities in the new era.

　　Raise the effective system provisions into law.

　　The research and drafting class said that the revision of the Law on the Protection of Military Facilities should be guided by the Supreme Leader’s Socialism with Chinese characteristics Thought in the new era, adhere to the overall national security concept, thoroughly implement the Supreme Leader’s thought of strengthening the army, adapt to the situation of China’s all-round opening up, rapid economic and social development, deepening reform in an all-round way and deepening preparations for military struggle, correctly handle the relationship between security and development, focus and generality, inheritance and innovation, and strive to form an era-oriented, scientific and practical law.

　　In the process of revision, we mainly grasp the following points:

　　To meet the needs of internal and external environment development and military struggle preparation, we should focus on solving outstanding problems on the basis of the existing legal system and upgrade the effective systems and regulations since the implementation of the current law on the protection of military facilities into law.

　　In view of the new system and new functions after the reform, we should adjust and improve the leadership management system and mechanism, optimize the function allocation, compact the military and land responsibilities, strengthen the coordination between the military and the land, and further enhance the leadership and overall execution of military facilities protection.

　　Thoroughly implement the policy of "classified protection and ensuring key points", learn from the experience of domestic ecological environment protection and foreign military facilities protection, strengthen the application of scientific and technological means, create a protection system, and constantly improve the level of precision, scientificity and standardization of military facilities protection.

　　Detailed classification and protection measures for military facilities

　　The research and drafting class said that the revision was mainly carried out in four aspects:

　　Improve the leadership and management system. Implement the requirements of the party’s leadership to enter the law and regulations, and clarify that "the protection of military facilities adheres to the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC)"; In view of the new system and new functions after the reform, it is clear that the State Council and the Central Military Commission are responsible for the protection of military facilities throughout the country according to their division of responsibilities; Local people’s governments at various levels shall, jointly with relevant military organs, administer the protection of military facilities within their respective administrative areas.

　　Measures to improve the protection system. To meet the needs of the development and changes of the internal and external environment and the preparation for military struggle, efforts should be made to solve practical contradictions, establish inspection, rectification, assessment and evaluation systems, strengthen the application of science and technology and the requirements for active protection, and refine the specific protection measures for military facilities such as waters and temporary facilities.

　　Compacting the responsibility of military and land units. Standardize the timing, procedures and requirements for soliciting opinions from military organs in local economic construction; The provisions on compensation in accordance with laws and regulations have been added to the scope of security control outside the military restricted zone and the scope of security protection of combat projects, without changing the ownership of the original land, land attachments and waters, and affecting the exercise of rights by real estate owners or usufructuary rights holders; Refine the provisions on the handling of violations of laws and regulations by various personnel.

　　Enhance the operability of the law. We will refine the classified protection measures for military facilities and optimize the approval process and authority of military facilities disposal.

　　Using new technology and new means to improve protection ability

　　The special course on research and drafting said that the revision of the law mainly aimed at the new situation and new problems faced by the protection of military facilities, adapted to the needs of national security and development, and strengthened the following specific protection measures:

　　The State Council and the Central Military Commission shall stipulate the implementation of the idea of taking precision as the guide and efficiency as the core, refining the classification of military facilities and defining the classification and protection standards of military facilities.

　　Strengthen the protection of key facilities in the maritime direction, solve the problems that it is difficult to meet the actual needs of the military restricted zones in waters, and increase the provisions that the military restricted zones in waters can delimit the scope of peripheral security control.

　　We will improve the regulations on zoning protection for the military to perform temporary tasks, and supplement and increase specific protection measures such as the examination and approval authority for the delineation and revocation of temporary protection areas.

　　In view of the increasing intensity of urban underground space development and utilization, it is stipulated that the development and utilization of underground space in land military restricted zones and military administrative zones must be approved.

　　Pay attention to the use of new technologies and means to enhance the ability of active protection, and stipulate that military facilities management units should upgrade and improve protection means and preventive measures according to protection needs and scientific and technological progress.

　　In view of the difficulties in demarcating the protected areas of military facilities and the lack of control measures, it is stipulated that the newly-built military facilities should be demarcated before construction starts; Specific protection measures for military installations classified into military restricted zones and military administrative zones shall be submitted for approval together with the plan for delineating the scope of military restricted zones and military administrative zones.

　　In order to improve the authority of protection measures, the relevant activities prohibited within the scope of safety protection of combat engineering in the implementation measures are raised to legal provisions, and military organs and local people’s governments are required to inform each other about the clearance protection of military airports and the possible land and space planning and tall building projects, to clarify the relevant provisions on the clearance protection of military airports for the old airports and helicopter landing pads managed by the military, and to improve the protection measures for military pipelines and military survey marks.