Beijing tights security at Games

By Li Jing (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-11-21 08:26Beijing faces no imminent threat of international terrorism or mass protests but will use abundant caution and seek international support to ensure a safe Olympic Games with the aid of 10,000 trained personnel.

Liu Shaowu, head of the Security Department of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG), said yesterday that although the city has no record of major terror activities, such attacks could not be ruled out two years hence when more than 2 million foreign athletes, officials and visitors pour into Beijing for the Games.

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"We cannot exclude the possibility that these people could become the object of terrorists," Liu told an international seminar on counter-terrorism and international security co-operation during major sporting events, which opened yesterday in Beijing.

Organized by the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) and the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Public Security, the three-day seminar is being attended by security experts from China and seven other countries including Britain, the United States, and Israel.

Liu, also deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Public Security, said: "We have worked out plans for any emergency, and fine-tuned the performance of our security staff during several big events."

They included the IAAF World Junior Championships, the ISF Women's Softball World Championships, and the recently-concluded Forum on China-Africa Co-operation.

The city will train at least 10,000 people, including police, security guards and volunteers, to guarantee security of the Games, according to sources at the municipal public security bureau.

About 20 government agencies are involved in the Beijing Olympic security plan, including the municipal public security and firefighting bureaus, the Ministry of National Security, and the Headquarters of the General Staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army.

Beijing police have set up a collaboration mechanism with nearly 20 foreign countries, such as neighbouring and former Games host nations.

Francesco Cappe of UNICRI said his institute has close ties with Beijing police and its International Permanent Observatory on Security During Major Events (IPO) has provided advisory services to Beijing since 2005.

IPO, established by UNICRI and the European Police Office in 2003, is a forum dedicated to promoting international exchanges on security during major international events; and Olympic security is its top priority, Cappe said.

"What is surreal today may be real tomorrow, so we need to improve information collection and sharing," he said.