WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange doesn’t think much of the activists planning a Chinese version of WikiLeaks, blasting them with the kind of vitriol often reserved for him by critics of his document dumps.

My colleague Andy Greenberg interviewed Assange for two hours earlier this month in London for this Forbes cover package. While making some tantalizing pronouncements about leaks yet to come from the corporate world, including a major U.S. bank, Assange doesn’t seem to be looking forward to what emerges from the China copycat. Though he doesn’t name the group, he appears to be talking about Government Leaks, which is planning a June 1, 2011, launch, according to The South China Morning Post.

The former computer hacker Assange, who has gone to great lengths to guard his controversial trove of leaked files against sophisticated hackers, worries about the security of the new organization and its sources. Here is the exchange from the transcript of Greenberg’s interview (the following from page 7):

What do you think of the idea of WikiLeaks copycats and spinoffs?
There have been a few over time, and they’ve been very dangerous. It’s not something that’s easy to do right. That’s the problem. Recently we saw a Chinese WikiLeaks. We encouraged them to come to us to work with us. It would be nice to have more Chinese speakers working with us in a dedicated way. But what they’d set up had no meaningful security. They have no reputation you can trust. It’s very easy and very dangerous to do it wrong.

It is possible Assange, who has no shortage of self-regard, is jealously protecting his brand. But he has good reason to be nervous about how a China WikiLeaks would operate: The Chinese government obviously is ferocious about protecting its secrets, and anybody within China suspected of leaking or of cooperating at all with any WikiLeaks-like organization will not enjoy the benefits of due process as Americans know it. (Suspected WikiLeaker Pfc. Bradley Manning, expected to face a military rather than civilian trial, may have a long-shot legal defense ahead, but that would still be a better shot than one gets when charged in the Chinese judicial system).

Add to that the fact that Chinese law very broadly and loosely defines “state secrets,” and you can imagine that a Chinese document dump, if not handled well, could put a lot of people at risk, potentially including collateral victims who would have no wanted no part of such a leak.

This is a high-stakes game for anyone it touches, and if Government Leaks’ organizers follow through, watch for this to play out next year. Government Leaks’ founder, identified in The South China Morning Post only as “Deep Throat,” told the Hong Kong newspaper last month that the group is soliciting uploads of classified data and planning to go live just before next June’s 22nd anniversary of the massacre near Tiananmen Square. More from “Deep Throat,” via AFP’s account (the newspaper’s original story is archived behind a pay wall):

“I think that by making government secrets open we can promote democracy in China,” he told the English-language daily.

“This is a fight against the dictatorship, and to return the right to information to the people. I believe it will advance China’s political reform.”

“Government Leaks has no relation with WikiLeaks, but you can call us the copycat version of WikiLeaks in China,” he said.

Assange’s concerns about security of a China leaks operation are not the first to be voiced. Chinese bloggers have also expressed concern about the safety risks for whistleblowers. And the founder of Government Leaks, conscious of the risks, says the group is avoiding normal email and is “studying the use of high-security technologies to receive sensitive information.” But whomever Assange’s WikiLeaks connected with had him spooked, and he speaks from experience.

Of course, many have voiced similar concerns about Assange and his document dumps, including allegations that war-related leaks put many informants’ lives in danger. So far the Wikileaks “cablegate” releases have shown efforts to redact the names of sources that could be at risk, though it is unclear whether some of those names may yet surface someday.

Still, Assange has indicated he is concerned about such issues of security. If he sees a problem brewing for whistleblowers on the Chinese front, he should know.