Friday marks China's first National Security Education Day. Events aimed at promoting public awareness of national security have been held across the country.

China passed the National Security Law last October to replace the Counter-espionage Law, which took effect in 1993. The new law goes beyond just the fight against espionage, but covers a wide spectrum of areas, such as defense, finance, technologies, as well as China's assets and activities in outer space, deep sea and polar regions.

Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Thursday that national security is not a far-fetching issue for ordinary people, and that everyone should be mobilized to safeguard it.