China adopted its first ever counter-terrorism legislation Sunday. Early drafts of the law drew strong criticism due to portions of it that threaten the intellectual property of foreign companies and individuals and tighten government control over the media, with the Xinhua News Agency stating that it is the "latest attempt to address terrorism at home and help maintain world security."
The legislation includes provisions that could require technology firms to install "back doors," or features that grant government access to products that might contain sensitive material, according to Reuters. Security bills with similar provisions have been proposed in the U.S. Tech experts such as Apple CEO Tim Cook have pointed out that back door provisions in security legislation would provide access not only to intelligence agencies, but also to the terrorist groups they are working to stop.
The Chinese bill arrives in response to ethnic violence in the autonomous territory of Xinjiang, located in northwest China, as well as the November Paris Attacks, the bombing of a Russian commercial jet over Egypt, and recent terrorist actions by the Islamic State. It also strives to stamp out political dissent in the digital world, according to Agence France-Presse.
President Barack Obama expressed concern over early drafts of the bill during Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Washington in September. The U.S. state department has also criticized the bill, saying it would do more harm than good. In response, Chinese officials have accused the U.S. of hypocrisy, claiming that the bill "is basically the same was what other major countries do," The Financial Times reported.
The Xinjiang province has been plagued by violence in recent years, largely at the hands of Muslim Uighur communities. China's state-run news media released a video earlier in December in which a Uighur man took responsibility for a fatal knife attack at the Sogan coal mine, claiming that he was carrying out jihad, according to The New York Times. It cannot be determined whether or not the man was speaking of his own free will. The Sept. 18 attack may have killed as many as 50 individuals, and it was not reported by China's official news until mid-November.
Uighurs once made up the majority of the Xinjiang population. However, after state-sponsored migration by millions of ethnic Han Chinese, they now comprise only 40 percent of the population.
