Corporate VPN in China

2. The Chinese passed regulation in 2017 which requires the registration of any vpn service in the country [https://jsis.washington.edu/eacenter/2017/04/17/chinas-new-cybersecurity-regulations-analyzing-ban-vpn-services/](https://jsis.washington.edu/eacenter/2017/04/17/chinas-new-cybersecurity-regulations-analyzing-ban-vpn-services/) . This was done to ensure that the chinese government can restrict the access of their citizens to foreign news and internet resources. The focus of enforcement for this is Chinese nationals, but it is my understanding that any VPN that is not registered can be shut off at any time, and any VPN which is registered, is thus open to traffic inspection by the Chinese government. 3. This is basically because all internet traffic out of china transverses the firewall, and encrypted traffic, as outlined in the internet regulations passed in 2016, are subject to surveillance. Legally to use a vpn traversing the firewall, you need to register it and open it to government inspection. The perspective I provided was relayed by in country technical consultants through our investigation of the possibility of reliable connecting our employees to our VPN services and systems outside the US (virtual desktops, file servers, etc.) These would be a mix of chinese nationals, and foreign citizens traveling through China for investment related meetings. The consensus was to do this reliable we would need to open an office in that province, and purchase point to point connections into Hong Kong, from HK, we could then connect outward to any foreign based IP. Users within the country would need to use a p2p vpn to that satellite office - VPN traffic which does not traverse the firewall does not require registration, and point to point vpn services are not subject to firewall traversal policies. It's a loophole, but it's effective at this time. ​ An article specifying how this would likely play out today, using public vpn's particularly for foreigners - 2023. [https://www.travelchinacheaper.com/is-it-legal-to-use-a-vpn-in-china](https://www.travelchinacheaper.com/is-it-legal-to-use-a-vpn-in-china) an article specifying how it works for businesses dated 2017: [https://www.china-briefing.com/news/chinas-great-firewall-implications-businesses/#:\~:text=Is%20using%20a%20VPN%20illegal,considered%20mischievous%2C%20but%20not%20illegal](https://www.china-briefing.com/news/chinas-great-firewall-implications-businesses/#:~:text=Is%20using%20a%20VPN%20illegal,considered%20mischievous%2C%20but%20not%20illegal). " “VPN tunnels using L2TP or PPTP protocols are more prone to drops in service. We have noticed that these kinds of VPN connections have stopped working regularly since earlier this year, while it appears IPSec VPN tunnels have not been impacted so far.”