Aug. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Chinese lawmakers curbed the power of local officials to call out the country’s more than 600,000- strong People’s Armed Police to quell disturbances.

The new law governing the deployment of the force, passed yesterday in Beijing by the National People’s Congress, comes as the number of protests and riots by farmers, workers and ethnic minorities is on the rise. Police should refuse orders that they consider unlawful, the law states.

The government in China has made maintaining social stability a key policy aim at the same time as cracking down on the corruption and abuse of power that is a cause of much of the unrest. Local officials under orders from Beijing to maintain the peace are likely to put pressure on the police to act, said Murray Scot Tanner, a China analyst at CNA, an Alexandria, Virginia-based research group.

“This clause represents a striking critique of some officials’ misuse of security forces,” said Tanner. “But these local leaders remain powerful. It may prove difficult for Armed Police commanders and higher level officials to stick to their guns and resist this kind of pressure.”

The new law also states that only officials above the county level can request the armed police.

The police force, used to quell riots last year in Tibet and last month in the western region of Xinjiang, is to “participate in the handling of riots, chaos, serious violent crimes and terrorist attacks,” according to the text of the legislation given to journalists in Beijing yesterday.

Mass Incidents

Wang Erping, a scholar at the Chinese Academy of Sciences who studies unrest, said the number of so-called mass incidents rose to about 90,000 last year from more than 80,000 in 2007.

Last month steel workers in northeastern China’s Jilin Province murdered an executive, causing authorities to put off a buyout of their mill. On Aug. 8, villagers in Hunan province rioted after they learned their children had been exposed to excessive levels of lead, the Associated Press reported.

The legislation also bans the force from detaining or searching people illegally and forbids police officers from leaking state secrets.

China’s national legislature also passed a resolution that codifies the country’s policy on combating climate change. The text urges rich countries to help developing countries such as China by transferring technology and providing financial support to help counter global warming. The resolution blames developed countries for the emissions which led to climate change.

“Since the Industrial Revolution, the activities of mankind, particularly the economic activities of developed countries during their industrialization, is the main cause of climate change,” the resolution read.

To contact the reporter on this story: Michael Forsythe in Beijing at mforsythe@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: August 27, 2009 12:18 EDT