Lawmakers weigh China's draft anti-terrorism law

Chinese lawmakers began reviewing draft legislation for the country's first anti-terrorism law Wednesday, to better counter terrorist activities while protecting citizens' rights.

The draft proposal, which comes weeks after fatal attacks this year in Paris, France, and Copenhagen, Denmark, is China's latest attempt to address terrorism at home and help maintain world security, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Explaining the draft at a bimonthly session of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), Su Zelin, deputy director with the Commission for Legislative Affairs of the NPC Standing Committee, said in the wake of new developments of the world's war on terrorism, China was facing a "new situation" in terms of its legislative work.

The draft law, when passed, could strengthen China's counter-terrorism efforts at the legal front, he said.

One notable change in Wednesday's text, tabled for a second reading this time, is an updated definition of the term "terrorism".

According to the new draft, terrorism is defined as "any speech or activity that, by means of violence, sabotage or threat, generates social panic, undermines public security, and menaces government organs and international organisations".

The definition of terrorism in an earlier draft, submitted in October last year, also included "thoughts" in addition to "speeches and activities", but these were deleted "for the sake of accuracy and applicability", according to Su.

In addition, the draft proposed enhanced aerospace control in China to guard against potential drone attacks.

"Flight control, civic aviation and public security authorities (...) must enhance management of aerospace, aircraft and flight activities, and stay on high alert against terrorist activities against aircraft or those conducted via flight activities," the draft read.

It also sought to strike a balance between combating extremism and rights protection.

In particular, security authorities' access to citizens' information via telecom and internet technology now must undergo "strict approval procedures", and information obtained in accordance with the draft law could only be used for the purpose of counter-terrorism operations, the draft stressed.

Approval must also be obtained to inquire into, seal up, seize and freeze suspicious assets linked to terrorist activities, it read.