Article Posted on : - Oct 19, 2012

BEIJING (PTI): China plans to declare defence - related scientific, technological and industrial facilities as forbidden military zones in order to protect their secrets and to prevent security leaks.

Some key organisations will be zoned as forbidden military areas or restricted military areas, Ma Yifei, bureau director of the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) Headquarters of the General Staff, said.

National defence organisations related to science, technology and industry have a direct bearing on the country's national security and defence strengths and, thus require good security, confidentiality, air exclusion and electromagnetic environment conditions, Ma said.

However, such organisations are off-limits to the protection of military installations under current law and regulations, and many of them face a complicated surrounding environment, he said.

Such situations have resulted in some information leaks and undermined the efficiency of these facilities, state-run Xinhua news agency quoted him as saying.