Terrorism has again captured Chinese peopleís attention after the grave terrorist attacks that happened near Kunming Railway Station in southwest Chinaís Yunnan Province on March 1. After the tragedy, which resulted in 29 deaths and 143 injuries, voices inChina calling for formulation of an anti-terrorism law have become louder.

After the 9/11 terrorist attacks in theUnited States, many countries have passed their laws on fight against terrorism. These countries includeSouth Africa,UgandaandNigeria. ButChinastill does not have such a law. In this article for ChinAfrica, Li Wei, Director of the Institute of Security and Arms Control Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, believesChinais in urgent need of an anti-terrorism law. His ideas follow:

In 2001, shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks happened in theUnited States, many scholars inChinaproposed that the country adopt an anti-terrorism law. But up until today, we still do not have such a law.

One of the reasons for the situation is that the real threat of terrorism has not been fully realized by the general public, as well as lawmakers inChina. Previously, terrorism was often conceived of as being tied to certain regions or areas. But in reality, the impact of terrorism has been gradually spreading. Terrorism has now become a nationwide threat. In the past decade or so, many countries have formulated their own anti-terrorism laws. According to these laws, they have given clear definitions of terrorism and established a series of corresponding mechanisms to prevent terrorist attacks. Such laws have provided a solid basis for these countries in fighting against terrorist forces.

 It is good that more and more people inChina have become aware of the situation and got to know the importance of making such a law against the backdrop of increasing incidences of terrorist attacks inChinain recent years. The anti-terrorism situation inChinahas become more challenging in recent years, owing to the collusion of terrorist forces at home and abroad that helps spread their influence. There have been several incidences happening in the past years, including the terrorist attacks nearTian’anmen Squareon October 28 of last year and the bloody tragedy inKunmingin early March. This shows terrorist forces inChinaare no longer limited within certain locales, but they are mobile and spreading to new places, severely threatening the national security and stability.

Chinahas been committed to building itself a society ruled by law. Its current anti-terrorism campaigns are based on the country’s Criminal Law. The 1997 amendment of the law for the first time listed organizing, leading and participating in terrorist activities as crimes, providing legal terms for punishment of terrorist criminals. But the amendment provided no explicit definition of terrorist crimes, nor specific terms of charges against terrorist activities, organizations or crimes. Punishments for terrorism crimes mainly come from other charges such as crimes of endangering public security or crimes of endangering national security. These terms are surely not enough compared with the harm terrorists induce by launching terrorist attacks. 

Chinamade a significant move toward fighting against terrorism in 2011 when the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress adopted the Decision on Issues Related to Strengthening Anti-Terrorism Work. This  decision provides explicit definitions of terrorists, terroristic organizations and terrorist activities. This is the first legal instrument guiding the anti-terrorism efforts inChina, unveiling the country’s first step in anti-terrorism legislation.

 Chinais a law-based country and everything should be conducted according to law, including the crackdown on terrorism. Under the current circumstances, relying solely on the Criminal Law is definitely not enough to support the anti-terrorism efforts. To prevent terrorist attacks, advance measures should be taken to monitor, detain or arrest terrorist suspects. This cannot be properly done if the work is based solely on the provisions in the Criminal Law, but needs specific legal prescriptions that go beyond the terms in the Criminal Law to effectively fight terrorists. 

Some people argue that terrorist activities fall in the scope of criminal activities, and so long as we intensify criminal penalty, we can stamp out terrorists. But actually, terrorists are different from other criminals in some important respects. Criminal Law can succesfully penalize criminals as its highest punishment is the death penalty. Anyone who commits crimes should be punished according to the law. However, terrorists are in a different category. Some launch suicide attacks. As they do not want to live when they launch the attacks, how could they be afraid of the death penalty?

 Chinanow needs to formulate an anti-terrorism law that can prevent terrorist attacks against innocent people before they happen, instead of the Criminal Law that focuses on punishing criminals after they commit crimes. Based on the law, efforts can be made to discover, stop and frustrate terrorist attacks before they ever happened. This requires more authorization, investment and strengthening in anti-terrorism work, and the anti-terrorism law, after it is made, should focus on terrorism prevention and early warning, which is also the focus of anti-terrorism legislation in other countries. 

In addition, as common people usually fall victim to terrorist attacks, at the current stage, efforts should be made to educate people so as to improve their consciousness in terms of how to protect themselves in different circumstances of terrorist attack. This is an important part ofChina’s anti-terrorism program.

Sufficient research and studies on anti-terrorism legislation have been conducted and now is time to adopt the law. But the law cannot solve everything once and for all. After it is passed, numerous works would still have to be done in this regard.