China Says Deliberation on Draft Anti-terrorism Law Goes Ahead

After a senior U.S. official suggested the legislation had been put on hold, the Foreign Ministry said on Monday that deliberation on a controversial Chinese anti-terrorism law is going on and it will be formulated based on national security needs.
The draft law, which could require technology firms to install "backdoors" in products or hand over sensitive information such as encryption keys to the government, has been criticized by some Western leaders and business groups.
U.S. President Barack Obama said in an interview with Reuters on March 2 that he had raised concern about the law directly with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Michael Daniel said on Thursday that China had suspended a review process for the law.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said at a regular news briefing, "Currently, the deliberation on this law is ongoing," and added that China was willing to "communicate with relevant parties" on the drafting.