New Chinese law takes aim at encryption

China’s parliament has passed a new antiterrorism law that requires technology firms to hand over sensitive information to the government and allows the Chinese military to venture overseas on counterterror operations.

The approval by the legislature, which is controlled by the Communist Party, came as Beijing has become increasingly jittery about antigovernment violence, especially in the ethnically divided region of Xinjiang in western China, where members of the Uighur minority have been at growing odds with the authorities.

China has studied United States and European Union laws in drafting its own counterterrorism bill requiring tech firms to assist security authorities to prevent and investigate terrorism, Li said. China officials said the law is necessary for conducting anti-terrorisms operations, but critics worry it could have far-reaching impacts in a country with a much-criticized human rights record.

Prominent Chinese dissident Hu Jia tweeted on Monday of the new laws: “What it is used for is not terrorism, but rather in the name of combating terrorism, it attacks all kinds of protests, particularly group and street protests”.

The head of China’s Parliament, Zhang Dejiang, said China’s first counter-terrorism law was “key part of a legal system to ensure national security”.

Under the new bill, telecom operators and internet service providers in China are required to provide technical support and assistance, including decryption, to police and national security authorities to aid “in prevention and investigation of terrorist activities”. Just like in other countries, the government says this will not infringe liberty.

China’s official Xinhua news agency, in an English-language commentary, said the US should stop harping on about the law and help Beijing fight terrorism instead.

“Terrorist attacks have caused heavy losses of people’s lives and properties, posing a serious threat to our security, stability, economic development and ethnic unity”, the state-run Xinhua news agency quoted the official as saying. Knife-wielding assailants killed 29 people at a train station in the southern city of Kunming in March past year. “Terrorism is the public enemy of mankind, and the Chinese government will oppose all forms of terrorism”, An said. Despite the requirements set out by the law, many tech firms, like Apple, do not hold the encryption keys to individual devices and would be unable to provide access to customers’ data even if requested to do so by the government.

Earlier this year, President Barack Obama expressed concern about the potential for China to insist on “back doors” that would bypass encryption protections in high-tech gear.

As expected, on Sunday the China Daily reported that lawmakers had unanimously approved the law.