A Chinese lawmaker from the military Monday called on the country's top legislature to formulate a counter-terrorism law to combat both domestic and foreign terrorist forces.
Yang Yunzhong, a deputy to the Ninth National People's Congress, the country's top legislative body, said counter-terrorism has been the focal point of the world's military and political arena since the September 11th terror attacks on the United States.
Yang is a professor at a Chinese military academy. He said that globally terrorist forces have posed a serious threat to the national security of more and more countries.
"China also faces a serious threat from terrorist forces," said the professor.
"To safeguard China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, we have to fight separatists, international terrorists and religious extremists."
The September 11th incident showed that the consequences of a catastrophic terrorist attack is no less than that of a war, he said.
It is highly necessary to set up an anti-terrorism legal framework as soon as possible, and establish special organs and forces to prevent, detect and suppress terrorist activities, said the professor.
( March 5, 2002)
