"The law is a very important weapon in fighting terrorism," he said, adding that he has prepared a motion on how to perfect related laws and regulations, said NPC deputy Abudu Reheman Ayli from the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

A senior armed police officer said yesterday that the country has intensified its war against terrorism by building up anti-terrorism forces.

Special forces have been created in all major cities and some counties after the September 11 attacks in the United States as a major effort to curb increasing terrorist threats.

Liu Hongjun, deputy chief of the general staff with the Armed Police Force, said his troops have established anti-terror and anti-hijacking units in all of the 31 provincial capitals, including Beijing and other key cities.

Mobile anti-terror forces are also stationed in several counties which are under heavy threat from possible terrorist attacks, the officer said in an exclusive interview with China Daily.

Liu, an NPC deputy, added that these anti-terror units will be mainly responsible for preventing and handling any emergency related to terrorist activity in the country.

"The anti-terror forces have been given special training and are capable of dealing with any breaking events," he said, declining to say how many make up the forces.

Liu said the September 11 attacks led China to speed up the building of its special anti-terror forces.

Prior to that, the country only had one anti-hijacking unit in the capital city of Beijing, an NPC deputy said.

"The threat posed by terrorist groups and terrorist members has increased in China because September 11 has actually served as a guide book for these terrorist forces to organize more deadly attacks," Liu said.

According to Ayli, Xinjiang is adopting resolute measures to crack down on East Turkistan terrorist forces.

He said the terrorists have carried out a series of violent acts over the past 12 years and have recently turned to pushing ideology by spreading separatism through smuggled publications and literary works.

He said the East Turkistan terrorist forces have, since the 1990s, schemed and organized a series of explosions, assassinations, arsons, poisonings and other terrorist activities in Xinjiang and in other countries, "seriously threatening not only the lives and property of Chinese people and their social stability but also the safety and stability of other countries."

"We shall resolutely safeguard national unity and stability in minority areas while doing everything to protect the religious activities of minorities," the official said.

In another development, NPC deputy Yang Yunzhong is pushing for a national anti-terrorism law in a motion to the legislature.

(China Daily March 8, 2002)