A senior counterterrorism official said Thursday China will draft a counterterrorism law to strengthen its fight against terrorist activities.

"The law will define what kind of activities are terrorist activities and the measures to be taken in fighting them," said Zhao Yongchen, deputy director of the Counterterrorism Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security. "Preparations for formulation of the law are underway."

Zhao was speaking at the China-ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) workshop for senior police officers, hosted by the ministry.

He added that although China is a stable country, it still faces threats from terrorism.

He called the "East Turkistan" terrorist forces the No.1 terrorist threat to China, saying they were responsible for more than 200 terrorist activities in Xinjiang in the 1990s.

He said China also faces a threat from international terrorist forces, mainly aimed at China's interests abroad. Last year, for example, Chinese projects were the targets of sabotage by terrorists in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

To crack down on terrorism, he said, it is important to cut the financial links that fund them, a tactic that requires close international cooperation.

China actively participates in international counterterrorism activities and is a party to 11 of the 13 existing international counterterrorism treaties.

As a result of beefed-up counterterrorism measures, there were no terrorist attacks in China last year, Zhao added.

More than 30 senior law enforcement officers from the 10 ASEAN states are attending the weeklong workshop, which opened Monday.

(Xinhua News Agency June 17, 2005)