CHINA has seen a decline in violent terrorist acts, thanks to tougher security measures, but the country still faces grim terror threats because the number of attempted attacks remains high, senior security experts said Monday.

    The number of traditional terrorist acts — violent attacks involving or orchestrated by terrorist cells — dropped last year, according to nationwide public security data cited in a study report released Monday by the Law Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The numbers were not available.

    The study was part of the Blue Book of Rule of Law, which was released Monday and includes analysis of various issues last year in the fields of legislation and crime.

    “China’s tightened measures against terrorism have driven some suspects underground. And we see more cases of fabricating terrorist-related information and spreading terrorism propaganda,” said Huang Fang, the institute researcher who led the study.

    China’s first comprehensive Anti-Terrorism Law, which took effect Jan. 1 last year, has improved the legal framework to better fight terrorist crimes, she said.

    However, Li Wei, an anti-terrorism expert, warned that although there have been fewer violent terrorist attacks in the past year, the situation has not fundamentally improved.

    “People should realize that more attacks have been foiled at the planning stage. We haven’t seen a significant drop in the number of attempted attacks,” he said.

    (Xinhua)