China approved the controversial Anti-Terrorism Law that was submitted in the Congress this year. It will take effect on January 1, 2016 and would mean tech companies have to give the encryption keys and passwords to the Chinese government if needed.
After months of protests from different international organizations, including criticism from human rights groups, business lobbies and President Obama, the law was passed last Sunday, reported New York Times. The drafted version of the law used a broad and very vague definition of terrorism. It ultimately gave access to the government's new censorship powers and authorized state right to use to sensitive commercial information. Despite the controversy, the government argued that the actions were required to stop terrorist attacks. Opponents opposed that the new powers could be mistreated to watch nonviolent citizens and steal technical secrets.
According to The Verge, earlier this year, Obama himself talked to Chinese president, Xi Jinping, saying China has to change this if they want to continue doing business with the United States. However, Li Shouwei, a National People's Congress official said that the law will not affect normal business transactions and that they will not use the law to go into "backdoor" business and violate the intellectual property rights of companies. He also said that the law will not damage people's freedom of speech or religion. He added that as China faces many terrorist threats, they are simply doing what many Western countries have been doing.
Independent said the anti-terrorism law also allows the People's Liberation Army to get involved in anti-terrorism action overseas which experts thinks is impractical for China. An Weixing, head of the Public Security Ministry's counter-terrorism division, said, terrorism is the public enemy of mankind, and the Chinese government will oppose all forms of terrorism. China faced a serious threat from terrorists, especially "East Turkestan" forces, China's general term for Islamists separatists it says operate in Xinjiang. However, many right groups are saying that this anger is only coming from Muslim Uighur people over restrictions on their religion and culture.
The media is being restricted to on details of terror attacks by the new law. A provision also includes about media and social media not reporting on details of terror actions that might lead to replication, nor show scenes that are "cruel and inhuman".
