The Chinese government is cracking down on white-collar crime. New legislation aimed at strengthening the criminal code is being reviewed by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the country's top legislature.

    The newly-amended draft will deal with emerging crime, such as evading debts through filing bankruptcy, credit card fraud, and deliberately interfering or harming national military communications.

Feng Jun, a professor from the law school of Renmin University of China, says the draft will modernize China's criminal code.

" From the content of the clauses, five new charges are added, which refer to the crimes that have happened frequently in recent years. They severely endanger the society. This amendment draft is conducive to protecting China's economic order, securing the social stability and safeguarding our national military safety."

The gradual maturity of the Chinese economy and market system has resulted in new kinds of white collar crime.

Some of the new charges stipulated in the draft are tailored to these new infractions. Dealing with credit card fraud is one of the priorities.

"With the popularization of credit cards, new situation has shown up in faking credit cards. There are some difficulties in applying the original criminal law to some certain cases," said Hu Kangsheng, a member from the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.

Some criminals organize the handicapped or minors into groups to beg for money, capitalizing on people's sympathy. This activity will now fall under the amended criminal code. In addition, those who deliberately damage communications facilities will also face punishment.

China's Criminal Law was implemented in 1980 and was amended comprehensively in 1997.

This is the fifth time that Chinese legislature has made small amendedments to the criminal law.

Source: CRIENGLISH.com