The measure was discussed in a meeting led by Guo Shengkun, public security minister and head of China’s anti-terrorism leading group. (Photo : Reuters)
An amendment has been proposed in China’s legislature that would consider the wearing of clothes or symbols associated with terrorism illegal.
More specifically, legislators are deliberating whether to make it a crime the act of forcing people to wear apparel displaying symbols of terrorism or extremism.
Those convicted may be jailed for up to three years, based on a draft submitted during the bimonthly session that began on Monday.
The amendment, if it pushes through, would strengthen the government's anti-terrorism campaign and take it to a whole new level.
Analysts view the piece of legislation as an approach to more stringent policies, after the nation witnessed several terror attacks outside the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and other places, including Beijing.
"The amendment could prevent terrorist activities from spreading across China and it shows the nation's zero tolerance for any action related to terrorism or extremism," said Li Wei, an anti-terrorism expert at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations.
Li added that the symbol of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement has appeared in previous terror attacks in China in the form of a black flag with a crescent in it.
Xinjiang has already imposed a ban on the wearing of full-face veils in public in Urumqi last December.
Local regulations are also preventing people from forcing others to wear clothes or symbols associated with religious extremism.
However, Wang Guoxiang, an expert at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, stated that it is not yet clear as to what constitutes extremist or terrorist clothing and that judicial interpretations could answer such questions until the draft amendment is passed.
