CHINA'S legislature yesterday 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 mandates the mobilization of the 660,000-strong People's Armed Police Force to deal with riots, disruptions and other emergencies.

Armed police officers will patrol China's municipalities and 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 the duty to assist other law enforcement forces in arrest, pursuit and escort operations.

The law was passed by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and endorsed by President Hu Jintao.

Under the new law, PAPF troops can establish security checkpoints to examine all personnel and vehicles entering and departing an area under their authority. Armed police can interrogate suspicious persons and check their identification documents, belongings and vehicles.

They are also authorized to "take necessary measures" to dispel large assemblies of people that compromise social order and the security of facilities the PAPF protects.

The PAPF - drawn from China's police - 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 anti-terrorism special force, the 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.