Beijing has been determined to present itself as a world leader in high-tech sectors, pouring billions into its robotics and artificial intelligence industries.
But suspicion of bad actors, particularly the United States, has grown as Beijing treats technological dominance as a matter of national security.
A national watchdog launched a monthlong campaign on Monday aimed at "protecting trade secrets and safeguarding industrial development", focusing on key areas such as biomedicine, integrated circuits and AI, state news agency Xinhua reported.
One task is to "intensify efforts to investigate and handle cases and strictly crack down on 'job-hopping with trade secrets' and 'malicious poaching'", Xinhua said.
The campaign was launched the same day new regulations on protecting trade secrets came into effect.
These regulations are the first to specify confidential information includes data and algorithms, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
The rules also outline extra measures to protect confidentiality in cases of remote and cross-border work, and increase scrutiny on electronic devices and workspaces.
Departing employees must "destroy any trade secrets and their carriers" while continuing their confidentiality obligations, the rules say.
Cutting-edge components that can train and power artificial intelligence systems are a crucial and highly sensitive element of the technology rivalry between the United States and China.
In April, the White House accused Chinese entities of "industrial-scale" efforts to steal US technology, while Beijing blocked the acquisition of a Chinese-founded AI agent tool by tech giant Meta.
But last month officials from both countries confirmed they would keep discussing AI following a summit between US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing.
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