China says it’s just as oppressive as the U.S. on terrorism

China’s anti-terrorism law, passed by the country’s legislature on Sunday, creates a new anti-terrorism bureau “in charge of identifying terrorist activities and personnel, and coordinate nationwide anti-terrorist work.” The law also prohibits the media from reporting on terrorist attacks, and includes an effective ban on end-to-end encryption.

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Mark Toner, a deputy spokesman for the State Department, said Monday that China’s law was “vaguely phrased” and “could lead to greater restrictions on the exercise of freedoms of expression, association, peaceful assembly, and religion within China.”

In addition to Internet providers and media outlets, observers fear the law is also designed to target Uyghurs, a minority group in the country traditionally oppressed by the Chinese Communist Party.

“Terrible news for peaceful govt critics, the rule of law, ISPs, businesses and many others in China,” Sophie Richardson, the China director for Human Rights Watch, said in a message on Twitter on Monday.

But Xinhua said China’s law is similar to current U.S. practices, and said it’s unfair to single out China.

“It’s hypocritical to criticize China’s requirements for technical support from companies in fighting terrorism,” the publication argued in an editorial on Tuesday. “The recently adopted law requires telecom and Internet service providers to provide technical interfaces, decryption and other assistance in case of anti-terror probes. Some critics say this would lead to a breach of privacy and infringement upon intellectual property rights.”

“Such remarks showed indifference to the need to protect people from terrorist attacks and revealed double standards in judging China’s fight against terrorism,” Xinhua adds. “Many countries, including the United States, have written into law a technology firms’ duty to cooperate in terror-related surveillance or probe.”

Xinhua did not cite the specific laws that it asserts make the Western world hypocritical, though the U.S. did approve new cybersecurity legislation this month as part of the omnibus spending package passed by Congress. The text of that legislation makes it easier for the federal government to work with private companies to surveil U.S. citizens.

Some in Congress are also pushing for a similar ban on end-to-end encryption, though that movement has yet to gain momentum.

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“Finger pointing and exercising double standards will only undermine the global united front to fight against terrorism,” Xinhua concluded. “If they keep the common interests of mankind in mind, some people would know which side to stand for.”