Xu Feibiao (徐飞彪)

Editor's Note:
The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, reviewed the draft resolution on strengthening anti-terrorism efforts on Monday. The draft resolution defines terrorist act, terrorist organization and terrorist force for the first time in China's legal documents. Is the law necessary? What effects will it have? Global Times (GT) reporter Yu Jincui and Jin Jianyu talked to Li Wei (Li) and Xu Feibiao (Xu), two experts on anti-terrorism at China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, on these issues.

GT: What's the background of the draft resolution?

Li: China is confronted with daunting terrorism challenges, as are other countries. The threat of terrorism is gradually appearing in China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and elsewhere.

So far China's crackdown on terrorism has been based on items related to terrorist activities in the Criminal Law and the amendment to the Criminal Law in 2002, but with the development of the situation, these laws can't meet the demands of anti-terrorism.

Because of international experiences and domestic experiences, issuing an anti-terrorism law is a global trend, and it's a part of China's construction of a legal system.

Terrorism is neither an ethnic problem nor a religious one. It is carried out for some political purpose.
Li Wei

Li Wei (李伟)

After the 9/11 attacks, some scholars in our country were calling for an anti-terrorism law, but the relevant authorities, after careful discussion, held that the time wasn't right to issue a special law, so they made the decision to issue a resolution by the Standing Committee of the NPC and form a consensus on anti-terrorism.

Xu: China is an active player in international anti-terrorism cooperation and has already signed some international agreements and treaties to crack down on terrorism. However, items in China's criminal law don't fully cover the demands of international agreements, so making a new regulation could resolve the conflicts between the two.

GT: What progress has the draft resolution made? How will it affect China's anti-terrorism?

Li: The resolution is in essence an administrative regulation with legal effects. It defines terrorist acts and terrorist organizations formally and legally.  
The bill submitted to the NPC defined terrorist acts as those which are intended to induce public fear or to coerce State organs or international organizations by means of violence, sabotage, threats or other tactics.?

These acts cause or aim to cause severe harm to society by inflicting casualties, bringing about major economic losses, damaging public facilities or disturbing the social order.

Ordinary crimes may be foiled and then treated more leniently, but according to the new regulations, even a terrorist attempt is frustrated in the preparation stage, it is still defined as a terrorist act. 

Besides, the resolution confirms the legal position and duty of the anti-terrorism coordination group. It states clearly that it is the national anti-terrorism coordination group that is in charge of leading and commanding the country's anti-terrorism work.

Xu: The draft bill provides that the funds and assets of terrorist organizations and terrorists will be frozen when their names are published by public security authorities.

It is known that terrorist organizations and terrorists raising funds by various means. They set up some front companies or smuggle goods. But once we define their companies as illegal and freeze their assets, their funding can be cut off.

GT: After 9/11, many countries issued anti-terrorism laws, but arguments over the advantages and disadvantages of such laws are never-ending. Are anti-terrorism laws necessary? What lessons can China draw from other countries' experiences?

Xu: It is very difficult to make an anti-terrorism law. There is no international consensus on terrorism now. Should religious extremism be considered as terrorism? We are not sure.

Besides, it's hard to find a balance between anti-terrorism and human rights protection.

If we want to strengthen anti-terrorism, we have to grant some special power to anti-terrorism organs such as the power to investigate, monitor and detention. This will violate personal rights to some extent and arouses great controversy. So when China is considering an anti-terrorism law, we should be very cautious and try to avoid these problems.

Li: Anti-terrorism laws have caused great controversy in countries like the US, Turkey and Britain. Different countries have different standards in defining terrorism. For example, Turkey, which holds the highest terrorism conviction rate, uses anti-terrorism laws to convict people who attend political demonstration. This is controversial. However, an anti-terrorism law is necessary.

Why doesn't criminal law satisfy the demands of anti-terrorism? Criminal law is strict with procedure when cracking a case, but terrorist activities are characterized by surprise, uncertainty, and concealment, so solely depending on the criminal law couldn't effectively crack down on and prevent terrorism.

International experiences suggest that terrorism is a sensitive issue, it should be carefully handled. For this regard, we should pay close attention on preventing abuses of power by the anti-terrorism organs, and try not to violate people's privacy. Making the law needs careful discussion and listening to others.

GT: In order to avoid ethnic conflicts, the Xinjiang authorities are very cautious in bringing charges of terrorism. How do you view this?

Li: Terrorism is neither an ethnic problem nor a religious one. It is carried out for some political purpose, and we should bear in mind clearly that terrorists deliberately use religious and ethnic problems as cover.

In my opinion, being cautious in convicting people of terrorism could only encourage terrorism. Countries like the US and Britain demand terrorists be severely punished by the law, if China punishes terrorists under the name of other crimes rather than terrorism, the terrorists will have nothing to fear.

Providing a legal framework for anti-terrorism could pave the way for further crackdowns on terrorism. It is also a sign of progress in making anti-terrorism transparent.