China passes its first Counter-Terrorism law

China’s National People’s Congress Standing Committee, the top organ of China’s parliament has adopted the country’s first counter-terrorism law.
The legislation was approved with large majority at the end of a week-long bimonthly session China’s National People’s Congress Standing Committee.
Key facts

• The law expanded the definition of the term terrorism and is the latest attempt of China to address terrorism at home and help maintain world security.
• The law grants overarching powers to security agencies and also allows the military to venture overseas on counter-terror operations.
• Under the new law a separate clause makes terrorism a crime including fabricating it and disseminating information on fabricated terrorist incidents.
• The law allows news media only to report on the personal details of on-scene workers, hostages or authorities’ response to terrorist activities and it will require approval from counter-terrorism authorities.
• It is mandatory for technology firms to give sensitive data like encryption keys to the government when asked for under this law.

Month: Current Affairs - December, 2015