He also urged the upgrading of China's anti-terrorism legislation to allow the government to mobilize more resources to prevent attacks.

Bo Xiao, director of the legislative affairs commission of the Xinjiang Regional People's Congress Standing Committee, said the Xinjiang government is considering anti-terrorism legislation. So far, the NPC, the country's top legislative body, has not added a nationwide anti-terrorism law to its work plan.

In 1997, Chinese criminal law was amended to include organizing, leading or joining terrorist cells after "organized terrorist crimes began to surface in some parts of China", according to Liu Renwen, a researcher in criminal law at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. People convicted of these offenses face sentences of 10 years to life imprisonment.

On Oct 29, 2011, the NPC's Standing Committee passed the Decision on Issues Related to Strengthening Anti-Terrorism Work, which clarified the definitions of terrorist activities, organizations and terrorists. It also included a list of suspected terrorist organizations and their members.

Liu said, "China has been considering drafting a comprehensive anti-terrorism law since the September 11 attacks in the United States in 2001, but it was difficult to reach a consensus on certain issues. The 'decision' was the result of that."

Xue Dan, Li Yingqing and Yang Wanli in Kunming, Dong Fangyu, Yang Yang, Zhang Lei and Zhang Yan in Beijing, and Gao Bo in Urumqi contributed to this story.