[JURIST] China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hong Lei said in a press conference [transcript] Monday that the Chinese government is proceeding in its review of revisions to the controversial draft counter-terrorism law despite recent reports that China had suspended such talks [Reuters report]. Hong stated that the law will be “made in light of China’s need to combat terrorism by incorporating new problems emerging from the international fight against terrorism with China’s anti-terrorism realities.” He stressed that the reviews have been “in-depth” and the second round of review has been completed with a third round “yet-to-come.” The reports that such review had been halted came after US official Michael Daniel [official profile] Special Assistant to the President and Cybersecurity Coordinator, stated that the Chinese government had “decided to suspend the third reading of that particular law, which has sort of put that on hiatus for the moment,” in a talk on Thursday at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation [advocacy website]. The proposed law has generated controversy because it could potentially require [Reuters report] “technology firms to install ‘backdoors’ in products or hand over sensitive information such as encryption keys to the government,” as well as, requiring “companies to also keep servers and user data within China, supply law enforcement authorities with communications records and censor terrorism-related Internet content.” Many feel that such laws constitute unfair regulatory practices. US President Barack Obama [official profile] said in an interview with Reuters [Reuters report] earlier this month that he spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping [official profile] concerning the law. “‘This is something that I’ve raised directly with President Xi,’ Obama said. ‘We have made it very clear to them that this is something they are going to have to change if they are to do business with the United States.'” At the completion of the third round of reviews, the draft law will be presented for deliberation to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress.

This is the latest development in China’s effort to ease public concerns and maintain stability in light of recent violence. In October a Chinese court sentenced [JURIST report] 12 people to death and gave 15 others suspended death sentences for their involvement in attacks on a police station and government offices in south Xinjiang in July. In August Chinese officials in the western region of Xinjiang executed [JURIST report] eight individuals charged with terrorism- and separatism-related crimes. Earlier that month a “terror group” was arrested [BBC report] in Xinjiang with more than one ton of material for explosive devices. Also in August 31 people were killed, and more than 90 injured, when two cars drove through a busy street market in Xinjiang, setting off explosives [Guardian report]. In April both a bombing and a knife attack [CNN report] occurred in the South Railway Station of Urumqi.