Govt assures foreign firms of legal rights
China's Anti-Terrorism Law will not limit business operations nor will it infringe upon a company's intellectual property rights or citizens' freedom of speech, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Wednesday, dismissing the U.S. government's "serious concerns" over a draft law expected to be passed shortly by the legislature.
At a daily briefing on Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said it is reasonable that the draft of the Anti-Terror Law states that telecom and Internet service providers should provide technical support, such as technical interface and decryption, to authorities in anti-terror investigations or prevention.
Western media reports have interpreted this provision as the Chinese government's move to ask foreign companies to leave a backdoor in their computer systems, and that all company data will be subject to Chinese government scrutiny.
"This term will not restrict companies' lawful operations, nor will it leave a backdoor open or infringe on companies' intellectual property rights and citizens' freedom of expression online," said Hong.
"It is hoped that the US respect China's normal legislation rather than exercise double standards," he added.
The legislation is necessary as it meet the practical needs to combat the global and domestic terrorist threat and reflects China's international obligation as a responsible country, and "we demand that the U.S. stop its unfounded accusation," Hong stressed.
Chinese lawmakers have begun a third reading of the draft legislation at a bimonthly session scheduled to conclude on Sunday, and it was agreed that the draft law was already "quite mature" and recommended for approval, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
The law's first draft was submitted for review in October 2014 and the second draft in February 2015.
Response to U.S. concerns
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Gabrielle Price said on Tuesday that "we believe the draft Counterterrorism Law would lead to greater restrictions on the exercise of freedoms of expression, association, peaceful assembly, and religion within China," Reuters reported.
Li Wei, an expert on counter-terrorism at the Chinese Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, also considers as groundless Price's statement.
"It fails to separate extremism from normal religious activity and blurred the issue with freedoms of speech and religious belief," Li told the Global Times.
The legislation comes amid China's strategy to enhance the rule of law and terror threats against China, said Li, adding that "the law aims to safeguard the well-being and property of every Chinese citizen, which is the most important thing to do."
"And even in the US, comments and activities provoking violence and extremist activities will be restricted and countered," Li noted, stressing that linking the fight against extremism to freedom of speech and religious belief is turning a blind eye on reality.
China has suffered from terrorist attacks in recent years, the most severe of which occurred on July 5, 2009 in Urumqi, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, followed by knife attacks in Kunming and Guangzhou in 2014.
Beijing also witnessed a deadly car attack in Tiananmen Square on October 28, 2014, killing three people in the car and two bystanders.
Internet cooperation
Hong said that the Internet has been used by many terrorists to plan and carry out terrorist activities, and many other countries including the U.S. require Internet companies to cooperate on anti-terror efforts.
The Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act and other relevant laws in the US state that relevant companies shall offer assistance to law enforcement agencies in lawful interception and decryption of encrypted communication, said Hong.
After the first review in October last year, the second version of the draft law added that applications for a technical interface need "strict formalities for approval" from the national security department to make sure the legitimate rights of citizens are not violated and to strike a balance between anti-terror efforts and protecting human rights, people.cn reported in January.
Reporting on terrorism
The draft also added that only news media with approval from counterterrorism authorities in charge of information distribution shall be allowed to report on or disseminate the personal details of on-scene workers, hostages or authorities' response activities, said Xinhua.
No institution or individual shall fabricate and disseminate information on terrorist incidents, report on and disseminate details of terrorist activities that might lead to imitation, nor publish scenes of cruelty and inhumanity in terrorist activities, the draft law says.
The clause was specifically revised to restrict the distribution of terrorism-related information by people on social media and to avoid copycat activities, according to a NPC Standing Committee statement.
