China has very strict laws to protect data privacy: Senior Chinese official

China has "very strict laws" to protect personal information in big data industry, a senior cyberspace administration official said here, amid increasing global concerns over privacy in the big data business.

The Chinese government is a major collector and user of privacy data. According to IHS Markit, a London-based market research firm, China had 176 million surveillance cameras in operation in 2016 and the number was set to reach 626 million by 2020.

As part of its efforts to crack down on misuse of private data, China's national cyberspace administration in May introduced a new data protection law, further tightening regulations amid growing data privacy concerns.

In an interview to PTI, Chen Benrong, Deputy Director of Guizhou Provincial Cyberspace Administration, said, "In China, we have very strict laws to protect our civil privacy, especially in the sector of big data industry. We have exclusively included big data privacy into our concerns."