BEIJING, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- China's National Administration for the Protection of State Secrets (NAPSS) on Friday alerted the public to the possibility of state secrets leak on to the Internet.

    Cong Bing, vice director of the NAPSS, said China's Criminal Law and Law on Guarding State Secrets prohibited the release, discussion and dissemination of state secrets through bulletin board systems, online chat rooms and Internet newsgroups.

    The theft or purchase of state secrets and their provision to institutions, organizations and people outside the country was illegal, he warned.

    The public had a duty to report the discovery of leaks of state secrets and to return classified documents to the relevant departments if they acquired them, he said.

    "In the market economy and information era, new issues have emerged in state secrets protection. Some people's awareness of state secrets protection is quite weak," said Cong.

    However, the capability to protect and control information concerning state secrets had a direct bearing on national security, competitive ability and development, he said.

    The NAPSS on Friday announced measures to improve awareness of state secrets protection and to balance the protection of state secrets and the protection of the public's right to know, prior to "Legal Popularization Day" on Dec. 4.

    Cong said the NAPSS would enhance the legal awareness through radio and TV programs, films, exhibitions and Internet programs.

    Guarding state secrets was a fundamental public duty under the constitution. "Our objective is to make every citizen aware of state secrets protection," he said.

    "We should strictly guard state secrets, while releasing other information in a timely and transparent manner," he said.

    Cong said much progress had been made in protecting the public's right to know.

    Death tolls in natural disasters and related information were no longer classed as state secrets and the government had established a real-time epidemic situation reporting system and fulfilled timely reporting of major production safety accidents.

    Under the Law on Guarding State Secrets, state secrets include classified information concerning major policy decisions on state affairs, national defense and the activities of the armed forces, diplomatic activities, national economic and social development, and science and technology, state security activities and the investigation of criminal offences, and other matters that are classified as state secrets by the state secret protection department.