China's police chief called for a heightened alert against terrorism on Sunday following the Paris attacks, according to the Ministry of Public Security (MPS).

Guo Shengkun, public security minister and head of the national anti-terrorism leading group, said during a televised meeting on Sunday that measures are needed to bust planned terror activities before they are carried out.

Greater efforts will be made to collect and analyze anti-terror intelligence, Guo said, to better strike against terrorism. He also urged the strict management of guns, explosives and packages, and enhanced patrols and security checks especially in vital areas and venues.

"Terrorism has spread to several regions in China and is increasingly on the rise, posing a great threat to social stability and economic development," Li Daguang, a professor at the People's Liberation Army (PLA) National Defense University, told the Global Times.

China has suffered from terrorist attacks in recent years, the most severe of which occurred on July 5, 2009 in Urumqi, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, followed by knife attacks in Kunming and Guangzhou in 2014.

Beijing also witnessed a deadly car attack in Tiananmen Square on October 28, 2014, killing three people in the car and two bystanders.

Terrorists in China have shifted from cold arms, such as knives and axes, to guns and have become more organized, the PLA Daily quoted Wang Yongsheng, deputy chief of the PLA General Staff, as saying.

Li Wei, an expert at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, told the Global Times in a previous interview that the Internet also plays a vital role in the spread of terrorism and extremism, which can help incite and recruit new members.

Chinese lawmakers began reviewing a draft of the country's first anti-terrorism law in late February, which states that Internet service providers should delete terrorism-related information, and report it to their local public security departments.