Tech firms have 鈥榥othing to fear鈥 from China鈥檚 anti-terror law
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TECHNOLOGY companies have nothing to fear from China’s new anti-terrorism law which aims to prevent and probe terror activities and does not affect their copyright, according to China’s foreign ministry which yesterday rebuffed US criticism as unwarranted.
The draft anti-terrorism law has caused concern in Western capitals as it could require technology firms to install “back doors” in products or to hand over sensitive information such as encryption keys to the government.
The law is currently having another reading at the latest session of the standing committee of the National People’s Congress, which ends on Sunday.
Earlier this week, the US State Department said it had expressed “serious concerns” to China about the law which it claimed would do more harm than good against the threat of terrorism.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said he was “dissatisfied” with the US position and hoped they respected China’s lawmaking process and did not adopt “double standards.”
China faced a serious threat from terrorism and needed to improve its legal framework to deal with the problem, Hong added. “What we are doing is reasonable and fair,” he said.
Terrorists had been using the Internet to operate and China needed laws to cope with this, Hong added.
“While formulating our counter terrorism law, we learned from the legislatures of other countries, including the US,” he said, adding that some of the bill’s provisions were similar to American telecommunications legislation.
Washington’s criticism, Hong said, showed a “double standard” on terrorism.
“The draft of our anti-terrorism law mandates the obligation of telecommunication operators, Internet servers and service providers to assist public and state security organ in stopping and probing terrorist activities,” Hong added.
“This is both totally rational and necessary. This rule won’t limit the lawful operations of companies, does not provide a ‘back door’ and will affect neither the firms’ intellectual property nor Internet users’ freedom of speech.”
Officials in Washington have argued that the law, combined with new draft banking and insurance rules and a slew of anti-trust investigations, amounts to “unfair regulatory pressure” targeting foreign companies.
China’s national security law adopted in July requires all key network infrastructure and information systems to be “secure and controllable.”
The US has also said the new law could restrict freedom of expression and association.
Hong said that China paid great attention to the relationship between fighting terrorism and protecting human rights and would ensure people’s legal rights are protected.
The bill’s latest version will forbid individuals from reporting on “details of terrorist activities that might lead to imitation,” Xinhua news agency said earlier, adding it was “specifically revised to restrict the distribution of terrorism-related information” on social media.
The third draft since the bill’s introduction, it also redefines “terrorism” to include activities with political and ideological motives, Xinhua said.
The current draft is “quite mature,” it said, adding that the standing committee of the National People’s Congress recommended it be put forward for approval.
Officials say China faces a growing threat from militants and separatists, especially in its Western region of Xinjiang, where hundreds have died in violence in the past few years.
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