Criminal charge for terrorism in Chinese Jurisdiction: Improvement and contradictions

In Estudios, Sistema político by PSTBS12378sxedeOPCH

As a responsible stakeholder and a veto power, China has shown to be complacent to the global war on terror by signing and ratifying most of international documents on the matter. Domestically, however, the Chinese Criminal Code has shown gaps and controversies, lacking a criminal legal definition and bringing controversial criminal liability of terrorist crimes. According to the Law, terrorist crimes are similar to ordinary crimes. The main difference between them relies on the global threat terrorism represents, which disturbs social stability as well as threatens national and international security. The rising concern over terrorism has emerged the need to adequate legal apparatus. As latest development, Beijing’s approach focuses on the legal area by defining terrorism, targeting terrorist groups and on the economic front, by boosting economic development in Tibet and Xinjiang. The success of combating terrorism in China should be understood by a merging of different factors: the understanding of terrorism as global threat, the necessity to implement full legislation and enhancing law enforcement; increasing the punishment, aswell as acting pre-emptively by identifying and combating terrorist cells.