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China drafting new anti-terrorism law, state media says

China is drafting an anti-terrorism law to safeguard against domestic and international threats, state media reported yesterday.

The decision comes as "growing terrorist forces worldwide pose a serious threat to all countries, including China," the China Daily newspaper cited Li Qinglin (李清林), vice-president of the China Law Society, as saying.

"China has been very active in the establishment of an anti-terrorism legal framework and authorities are busy drafting a separate law to better fight terrorism," Zhao Bingzhi (趙秉志), head of the society's criminal law research committee, was quoted as saying at a legal workshop on fighting terrorism. The report said Zhao has been involved in discussions about the law.

The newspaper did not elaborate on what were considered domestic or international threats. No other details on the measure or when it will be introduced were given.

Wang Hui, a press officer at the National People's Congress said she had "no idea" about the proposal. Telephones were not answered at the offices of the China Law Society.

The Beijing leadership has faced simmering separatist movements in its border provinces and has tried to link a rebellion in its heavily Muslim central Asian region of Xinjiang to groups connected to al-Qaeda.

Beijing has accused one group, the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, of killing nearly 200 people in Xinjiang since 1990.

Foreign experts and diplomats, however, have criticized Beijing for using the war on terror as an excuse to crack down on peaceful pro-independence activism.

They say many of the deaths were not separatist-related and that most bombings and violence are carried out by individuals or small groups, not an organized movement.
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