New | Anti-terrorism school to be set up in China’s northwest, where restive Xinjiang is located

China will launch its first anti-terrorism school in a university in the northwest, where the restive Xinjiang ( 新疆 ) region is located, following the counterterrorism law that took effect on the first day of the year.

The Northwest University of Political Science and Law in Xian ( 西安 ), Shaanxi ( 陝西 ) province, said that the university was working on setting up an independent institution that would take in law graduates and teach them the latest anti-terrorism theories and practices.

The institute would award masters degrees and doctorates in anti-terrorism studies, the university said.

READ MORE: China passes landmark law to battle terrorism at home and overseas

“The purpose is to develop specialised talents for anti-terrorism,” the university’s president Jia Yu told a conference last week.

The institute would be the country’s first organisation dedicated to studying and teaching anti-terrorism, according to a report on the conference.

Shaanxi province is in China’s northwest, where Gansu (甘肅), Ningxia (寧夏) and Xinjiang are also located. Xinjiang has a large Muslim Uygur population.