China is offering its citizens cash rewards of up to and above 100,000 yuan ($15,000) for tip-offs about people who endanger national security, as authorities intensify a years-long campaign to weed out what they see as growing threats from foreign espionage and "hostile forces."
Successful informants can receive either "spiritual rewards" in certificates or "material rewards" in cash, according to regulations released by the Ministry of State Security on Monday.
The cash rewards are graded into four levels based on the value of the tip-off, ranging from less than 10,000 yuan ($1,500) to more than 100,000 yuan.
For years, Chinese authorities have encouraged the public to inform on foreign spies and their Chinese collaborators through propaganda and incentive campaigns -- efforts that have gathered pace under the country's leader Xi Jinping.
"We must ensure that national security is all for the people and all by the people, mobilizing the efforts of the whole Communist Party and whole society to bring together powerful forces to safeguard national security," Xi told officials in 2016.
In 2017, the Beijing municipal government began offering rewards of up to half a million yuan ($75,000) for anyone who helps to expose a spy. Within a year, authorities had received nearly 5,000 reports and handed out rewards to informants ranging from scientific researchers to cab drivers, according to state-run Beijing News.