The International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism, aiming to restrict terrorists' funding, was submitted to China's legislature for approval on Saturday.

The approval of the convention accords with China's needs in the fight against the financing of terrorism, Wu Dawei, vice-minister of Foreign Affairs, said at the 20th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 10th National People's Congress (NPC), which will finish tomorrow.

"The core of the convention is about undermining the terrorist organization's economic support through stemming its funding sources," said Wu, adding that, "the approval of the convention is conducive to stemming funds supplied by overseas anti-Chinese forces to China's domestic terrorists, and helping safeguard national security and social stability."

He said the Chinese Government had endorsed all the nine treaties listed in the appendix of the convention and the final approval of the convention by the top legislature will demonstrate China's resolution to fight terrorism and showcase the country's responsibility in the international community.

The content of the convention is consistent with China's domestic laws and the international conventions the Chinese Government has already signed, he said.

The third amendment of the Criminal Law, which was promulgated in December 2001, included provisions on suppressing the financing of terrorism and laying the foundation for domestic laws to punish perpetrators of these crimes, he said.

"Moreover, China's endeavours in fighting the financing of terrorism will be intensified when the country's anti-laundering law, which is currently under stipulation, is ratified," said Wu.

He also claimed that the approval of the convention would not affect China's financial security, because the application of financial supervision measures is based on the domestic law of every signatory country.

The convention, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 9, 1999, came into effect on April 10, 2002, and was signed by 138 countries by August 16, 2005. The Chinese Government signed the convention on November 13, 2001.

The convention, consisting of 28 provisions and one appendix, spells out the definition of "terrorism financing crimes" and urges all the signatory countries to prevent and fight the crimes through legislative, judicial and financial supervision measures.

The convention gives signatory countries the power to charge those who are involved in financing terrorism. It also regulates international co-operation on launching repatriation and criminal judicial assistance among the signatory countries and regulates methods for dealing with disputes among the signatories.

Zhao Yongchen, deputy director of the Anti-Terrorism Bureau under the Ministry of Public Security, said: "Over the last decade, the main terrorist threat in China is the activities in 'East Turkistan.'"

Statistics show that in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region the combined forces of terrorists, separatists and extremists hatched more than 260 terrorist plots over the past 10 years, killing more than 160 innocent people and injuring a further 440.

(China Daily February 27, 2006)