China is rolling out sweeping new border and internet policing rules that put phones, laptops and cloud files of visiting Taiwanese businesspeople and academics at risk.

• Two new rules take effect back to back — border and travel checks in mid-September, internet and personal-data policing on October 1.
• Local police get power to inspect devices, run online sweeps, and summon people for questioning before any crime has happened.
• Carrying a blank or spare phone no longer helps — travelers doing it have been pulled aside and asked what they are hiding, with one suggestion being to load an innocuous wallpaper like a Xi Jinping image.
• Business contracts, trade secrets and research files on a seized device could be exposed, and phones may be loaded with spying software.
• People inside China are already censoring themselves, cutting off links to outside news to avoid trouble.

Outlook: Expect tighter self-censorship and a wider digital divide across the Taiwan Strait as the rules kick in this autumn.