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China's top legislature Thursday passed the country's first law on the armed police, giving the force new duties and statutory authority to respond to security emergencies.
The Law on the People's Armed Police Force (PAPF) of the People's Republic of China mandates the mobilization of the 660,000-strong PAPF to deal with riots, disruptions, serious violent crimes, terrorist attacks and other emergencies.
Armed PAPF officers will patrol China's municipalities, provincial and regional capitals during "special periods," and take responsibility for the security of major transport lines and important public facilities.
The law says the PAPF will also have a duty to assist other law enforcement forces in arrest, pursuit and escort operations.
The law was passed by legislators after its second reading at the 10th session of the Standing Committee of the 11th National People's Congress (NPC), and endorsed by President Hu Jintao on Thursday to make it effective.
The law was originally proposed in 1995, but its draft was submitted to the top legislature for the first reading in April 2009.
"The PAPF had long expected an armed police law with Chinese characteristics to provide a legal guarantee for the troops to carry out operations," General Wu Shuangzhan, commander of the PAPF, told Xinhua on Thursday.
"The adoption of the law embodies the Communist Party's doctrine and policy to govern the country by law," Wu said.
Wu said the force's headquarters would promote study of the new law in all units and troops throughout the country.
Under the 38-article law, PAPF troops can establish security checkpoints to examine all personnel and vehicles entering and departing an area under their authority. PAPF personnel can interrogate suspicious persons and check their identification documents, belongings and vehicles.
They are also authorized to "take necessary measures" to dispellarge assemblies of people that compromise social order and the security of facilities the PAPF protects.
However, the law prohibits PAPF troops from restricting individual freedom by detention or body searches as well as raiding individual residences without a legal warrant.
PAPF troops on duty or operations should wear their olive green uniforms and bear their credentials, the law says.
Although governments above county-level can request the engagement of the PAPF in security operations, the law strictly limits the authority to mobilize and deploy the PAPF to the State Council, the Cabinet, and the Central Military Commission (CMC).
"It will be more responsible for the government to restrict the power to mobilize the armed police within higher authorities to avoid abuse," said Xin Chunying, a member of the NPC Standing Committee.
"The PAPF has gained a lot of successful experience in security operations since its foundation," Wang Shangxin, of the Commission for Legislative Affairs of the NPC Standing Committee, said at a press conference on Thursday.
"The new law will provide a clearer legal basis for the PAPF to better serve the country's security affairs and a regulation for the PAPF to comply," Wang said.
The PAPF -- drawn from China's police force -- was founded in 1982 as an internal security force to provide services ranging from protecting important political figures to urban firefighting.
In December 2002, the PAPF headquarters selected 400 elite members from its troops around the country to create an anit-terrorism special force, Snow Leopard Commando Unit, which was deployed at major events such as the Beijing Olympic Games last summer.
Under the dual command of the CMC and the State Council, the armed police played a major role in quelling riots in Lhasa on March 14 last year and in Urumqi on July 5.
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