China may decide to narrow down the types of crimes for which the death penalty can be used

China may decide to narrow down the types of crimes for which the death penalty can be used, state media said, in a move observers said was possibly designed to address European concerns.
"In future amendments of the criminal law, the legislature might remove capital punishment as an option in punishing certain crimes," Vice Justice Minister Zhang Jun said, according to the Nanfang Daily.
Zhang's remarks were made public after days of wide-ranging debate in Chinese media about the merits of the death penalty, which is meted out for a range of violations, including non-violent ones.
"It can't be excluded that it is to please the European Union at a time when it is considering lifting the arms embargo," said Nicolas Becquelin, Hong Kong-based research director for Human Rights in China.
"As long as the law recognizes that criminals are humans, the criminals are entitled to live and the state and the law should not deprive them of their right to life," Qiu Xinglong, a prominent death penalty opponent and a law professor at Xiangtan University in central China's Hunan province, said in a report on the People's Daily website.