China’s parliament passed legislation Saturday beefing up the nation’s counter-terrorism laws, while also ordering finger prints to be added to all national identity cards. The two bills passed Saturday by the standing committee of the National People’s Congress, China’s legislature, were aimed at safeguarding social stability, legislators told journalists.
The bill laying out the nation’s legal definition of terrorism clarifies when China’s anti-terrorism forces should act and against whom, legislator Li Shouwei said. It also requires the government to issue a list of alleged terrorists and terrorist groups and stipulates what measures government departments should take to confront them, including freezing their assets, he said.
“Concerning the name list of terrorist organisations, this will be published in accordance with the anti-terrorism situation,” Li said. “We will adopt corresponding measures as terrorist organisations and terrorists appear domestically, or in accordance with concerned resolutions issued by the competent organs of the UN Security Council.”
