Lawmakers review first ever anti-terror law

A man walks past policemen standing guard in Urumqi

China’s lawmakers yesterday began reviewing draft legislation to create the country’s first anti-terrorism law, after a series of attacks that authorities blamed on Muslim separatists in the Xinjiang region.
The draft proposals to be discussed at a session of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, China’s legislature, include setting up a national intelligence gathering body, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.
Hundreds of people have died in recent years in Xinjiang in attacks blamed by Beijing on Islamic separatists, and the violence has been spreading beyond the northwest province. China needs the legislation because it faces “an arduous and complex struggle against terrorism” and because such a law could improve international cooperation, Xinhua said.
Last October, a driver plowed a sports utility vehicle into a crowd at Tiananmen Square in Beijing, causing the deaths of two bystanders and three attackers, who authorities said were militants from Xinjiang. In March, more than 30 people died in a knife attack at the train station in Kunming, the capital city of the southwest Yunnan province.
The draft legislation also includes measures to regulate terror-related information spread via the Internet and to tighten controls on dangerous materials. The bill also seeks to clarify the responsibilities between the army, police and other state-controlled forces, Xinhua said.
Discussion about China’s first anti-terrorism law started after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the U.S., according to Li Wei, head of security and anti-terrorism research at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations. Preliminary work began before the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
One of the difficulties is “how to provide a legal definition for terrorism in China,” he said. Ting Shi, Bloomberg