China Creates National Security Committee with Warning to Terrorists

China’s Communist Party leaders set up a state committee to better coordinate security issues and respond to fast-moving crises as it expands its military reach and faces growing dissent at home.

China’s government faces a growing number of strikes, protests and riots that it considers threats to domestic stability, alongside ethnic tensions in western regions such as Tibet and Xinjiang. On Oct. 28, a sport-utility vehicle crashed and burst into flames near Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in front of the gate bearing the portrait of Chairman Mao Zedong, killing its three occupants and two bystanders. The government called the incident a terrorist attack.

“The purpose of the committee is to ensure the nation’s security,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a regular briefing today when asked about the body. “That should make terrorists, extremists and separatists nervous. Anyone who would disrupt or sabotage China’s national security should be nervous.” The announcement of a new body was part of a section in the communique on China’s internal matters, and no details were given about what the committee would do or who would lead it.

Jin Canrong, a professor at the School of International Studies at Renmin University in Beijing, said China’s government agencies often don’t coordinate with each other, creating the potential for conflict. “All the government agencies also have their own interests,” Jin said. “We do need better coordination.”