'Not much time left' to adapt to new terror law

China's draft counter-terrorism law is still very much alive, but some of the clauses that require overseas tech companies to reveal source codes and other sensitive information to government officials could be softened, according to industry insiders.

Commenting on White House suggestions made last week, that China had suspended the third reading of the planned anti-terrorism law, Charlie Dai, principal analyst at Forrester Research Inc, said he had every confidence the legislation will still be implemented, but that "lawmakers need to carefully choose their words to avoid diplomatic confrontation and to make the law easy to practice".

United States companies have expressed fears that China's tightening grips on information security will damage their interests in the country. The US government has also vigorously opposed the draft law.