Beijing Olympic Games: Security Update

The Chinese media, focusing on the preparations for next year’s Olympic Games, has reported that the security element of the global event will include the installation of thousands of CCTV cameras. The move is part of a wide effort to eliminate disruptive behaviour among fans, and the surveillance cameras to be deployed were yesterday trialled in a football match held between Barcelona and local stars Beijing Guo’an. According to the Beijing Youth Daily, a police officer was positioned on every level of the stadium, recording the fans’ actions in the process.

One paper in particular, the Beijing News, said that 2,000 cameras are set to be installed in the Chaoyong district – a key Olympic site - within the next six or so months. These will compliment and augment the large numbers of CCTV devices already in situ. These, at present, earn their keep from monitoring traffic and goings-on in public places, including Beijing’s focal Tiananmen Square. Other security measures, the newspaper said, were also set to be implemented. These include resourcing site-patrol duties out to 70,000 volunteers.

In respect of the 2008 Olympic Games, Zhou Yongkang, the Public Security Minister and China’s most prominent policeman, urged that any perceived threat to the event be strictly guarded against, with the warning that “hostile forces” would be struck hard. Amongst the key threats covered by his statement, he said, were “ethnic splitism, religious extremism” and those related to both terrorism and the controversial group Falun Gong.

A recent statement was made by the Beijing Olympic Organisation Committee’s President, Liu Qi. He urged that residents around the Olympic sites-to-be adopt certain measures of etiquette in order to promote a sparkling cultural image. Speaking to the 1,600 people in attendance at a rally, Mr Qi said: "Everybody should cultivate good habits from now on”. He added: "Everybody should follow and protect public order, no matter if you are driving or walking. Clean words, clean environment and clean air. Clean up bad habits such as spitting, throwing rubbish and so on."

The Olympic Games is expected to encourage approximately 550,000 visitors from overseas, alongside an estimated 22,000 representatives of the media. In deference of the huge exposure China will receive while the games are in progress, officials have already started a drive to promote cleanliness and formality amongst Beijing’s residents. Amongst the areas targeted are spitting, bad driving and swearing.

Source – Security International’s Far East Correspondent

SHANGHAI - China wants the world to see its capital as the place where its imperial past and bright future come together to provide a picture of a proud nation ready to retake its place in the world.

There is a danger, however, that what will actually be on display at next month's Olympics is Fortress Beijing.

Security for any Olympiad is tight, with the millions of spectators, saturation media coverage and presence of world leaders a magnet for anyone looking for global attention.

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Paramilitary policemen stand in front of the National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest, at the Olympic Green in Beijing, July 18.

Joe Chan/Reuters

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Interpol chief Ronald Noble underlined the danger when he warned the Chinese this spring: "We must be prepared for the possibility that al-Qaida or some other terrorist group will attempt to launch a deadly terrorist attack at these Olympics."

It is a sobering thought, but surely far from the minds of the drivers caught unaware this week when officials launched the latest phase of their Olympic "Defence Line" plan. Traffic was backed up for two kilometres on expressways and national highways leading into Beijing city centre as every car was thoroughly searched. It was a 20-minute job for each vehicle.

This is the second layer of a security plan that already includes hundreds of checkpoints on every road leading into the capital from Hebei, the neighbouring province that hugs Beijing.

The third phase, which will be implemented soon, calls for security checkpoints on major downtown streets.

The cost of securing the XXlX Olympiad is estimated at close to $50 million.

But that doesn't take into account the 100,000 soldiers from the People's Liberation Army that China is using as its first line of defence around the capital and at Olympic venues. Nor does it include the costs for the 100,000 ordinary police and paramilitary police or the 60,000 civilian volunteers - mostly aging members of the Communist-era Neighbourhood Committees - who will be their eyes and ears around the city for the Games.

External terror groups are just one aspect of the security threat China has identified leading up to the Games. It has also singled out several internal groups it says may try to disrupt the Olympics. Topping the list are Tibetan and Tibetan-exile groups, and Uighurs - members of the predominately Muslim minority population that is centred in the remote Xinjiang region and still not reconciled to 60 years of Chinese rule. The outlawed group Falun Gong is undoubtedly near the top of China's blacklist, too, although it is rarely mentioned publicly.

Officials deny singling them out, but many human rights advocacy groups are claiming the crackdown on dissidents this year is also part of China's security plan for the Games.

At all costs, Tiananmen Square will not be repeated while the world looks on.

Sophie Richardson, Asia director for Human Rights Watch, said that leading up to the Games, "we have witnessed a systematic effort to silence, suppress and repress Chinese citizens who are trying to push the government into greater respect for fundamental rights."

The Chinese consulted widely with security forces around the world and worked closely with Interpol to hone their security plan.

Some of the measures they settled on are highly visible. A battery of surface-to-air missiles has been set up just a few kilometres from the iconic Bird's Nest stadium and the bubble-wrapped "Water Cube" - the National Aquatics Centre.

Starting this weekend, passengers entering Beijing Capital Airport will have to go through a security check just to get in the building and then repeat it after check-in.

On the Beijing subway, passengers are already being sniffed for explosives by trained dogs and police are spot-checking purses, briefcases and backpacks.

Less visible are measures such as the passport checks at major airports across China that link to Interpol's data base of "more than 14 million stolen and lost travel documents." The Chinese aren't advertising the link, but Interpol's Noble revealed last spring that he was helping China set it up.

Neither do the Chinese talk about the estimated 265,000 security cameras they have mounted - unblinking eyes that watch over the city and Games sites. If you look carefully at the tall light standards on the vast Olympic Green you can see how the spy cameras are neatly worked into the sleek design. Some have face-recognition technology programmed into them. Most people will never notice them, but be assured that wherever you are in Beijing, someone is watching.

The tickets for the opening and closing ceremonies are another feat of invisible security. Each one has a Radio Frequency Identification chip embedded in it. The minuscule chip can be read like a bar code and contains a picture, the holder's name, address, passport number, telephone and e-mail.

Anyone who wants to travel by bus or train to the capital now has to produce identification. If you want to mail a parcel to Beijing, or to any of the five other Olympic venues on the mainland, starting this weekend you have to produce ID, too, plus open the package for inspection.

Organizers appear to be sensitive to the fact "Fortress Beijing" is not the image they want to show to the world.

The official news agency Xinhua reported this week that Zhou Yongkang, China's top security official, instructed police officers: "During the Olympics security work, we should not only stick to strictness and details, but also ensure civilized and convenient inspections for people."

It's a tall order. Olympic organizers launched a campaign this week to encourage staff, volunteers and security to wear a smile whenever they encounter visitors. That may help ease the tension of delays, but, as always, the secret weapon for the Chinese will likely be manpower.

When the road searches became too annoying this week, officials immediately pledged more checkpoints with more personnel to speed things up.

It's a simple solution in a country of 1.3 billion and has already smoothed out the frayed tempers of visitors arriving at the Beijing airport. More passport officers were recruited to process visitors faster. Despite the new layers of security, passengers are reporting now that they are through to the luggage carousel in mere minutes.

As Olympics near, jittery China clamps down on foreigners, concerts

Journalists were allowed into the just completed “Bird’s Nest” National Stadium, and here are some photos to show what it looks like.

This is the landmark venue for the Summer Games, a $450 million beauty. The opening and closing ceremonies will occur here, and such events as the marathon will terminate here.

It is a striking facility, especially from a distance. The interlaced beams look randomly but stably intertwined. Once inside, the color red predominates. It is not a covered stadium. But if one looks overhead, multiple cables crisscross the open-air roof. Clearly, the designers plan for some acrobatic displays.

In the center of the playing field, there are four huge platforms on hydraulic lifts, just as in a large theater. So the opening ceremony will clearly include scenes of performers rising from underground into the air.

On another note, the Foreign Correspondents Club of Beijing had a session yesterday with Stefano Baldini, the reigning Olympic gold medalist marathoner from the 2004 Athens Games. Baldini had some interesting things to say. For one, he thinks the smog will be less of a factor in the upcoming Games then heat and humidity, at least for his event.

“The hotter it is and the more humid it is, the more the gap shrinks with the strongest runners,” he said, meaning that the race may be wide open.

Air quality has not been good this week, and Baldini remarked on it.

“I haven’t seen such a polluted sky anywhere else,” he said. “I think it’s very psychological because you see it. You sense it.”

But he said air quality is likely to get better by summer time.

He also snorted at the idea of wearing a mask when coming to Beijing, breaking into English from his native Italian. Some teams, including the U.S. squad, will be providing masks to athletes.

“No mask,” he said. “I don’t see any advantage in wearing a mask, neither for everyday use nor for training.”

Interpol warned on Friday that China must be prepared for a possible Al-Qaeda attack on the Beijing Olympics, as well as potentially violent disruption from pro-Tibet protestors.

"We must be prepared for the possibility that Al-Qaeda or some other terrorist group will attempt to launch a deadly terrorist attack at these Olympics," Interpol chief Ronald Noble told an international conference on security for the Games in Beijing, according to a copy of his speech.

"The threat is compounded by the very nature of the 2008 Summer Olympics," the head of the international police organisation, based in the French city of Lyon, told the gathering.

"China will open its doors to hundreds of thousands of foreign visitors and journalists and an audience of billions watching on television. This could provide easy cover for terrorists and ensure any attack during the Olympics would have an immediate global impact."

"There is no doubt that the biggest threat facing the Beijing Olympics is terrorism," China's Minister of Public Security Meng Jianzhu said, according to a translation of his speech at the conference.

"I hope that all parties will adopt practical and effective measures, strengthen border controls...to jointly prevent and suppress international terrorist activities targeting the Beijing Olympic Games," he said.

Noble told delegates the security "situation has clearly changed" since September 2007, when Interpol reported it had no specific information from its 186 member countries on direct terrorist threats to the Beijing Olympics.

He cited a string of Chinese reports of failed plots to disrupt the Games which the authorities claimed were linked to separatist groups.

Chinese police announced this month they had cracked two terrorist gangs, including one planning to kidnap Olympic athletes, journalists and tourists, in northwest China's Xinjiang region, which has a strong Muslim population of ethnic Uighurs.

In January, China announced the dismantling of an Islamist terror cell in Xinjiang, and also claimed to have foiled an attempt by a Uighur woman to blow up a Chinese airliner on March 7.

Rights groups and exiled Uighurs regularly accuse Beijing of inflating a terror threat in Xinjiang to tighten its control over the restive and oil-rich region, and one exiled leader has accused China of fabricating plots.

The Interpol chief also pointed to the arrest in Indonesia in December of several suspected Al-Qaeda members believed to have been plotting an attack during the Games, and who were reportedly in possession of a map of Beijing and data on various sports venues.

Noble also said the wave of protests over China's crackdown in Tibet during the global Olympic torch relay had "introduced significant additional complications to the normal security considerations" for the Games.

"In light of recent events, all countries whose athletes will participate and whose citizens will attend the Beijing Olympics must be prepared for the possibility that the groups and individuals responsible for the violence during the global torch relay could carry out their protests at the actual Games."

He said that Interpol had been working with Beijing to assess the threat of a terrorist attack at the Games, with an Interpol team to travel to China ahead of the Games to train Chinese officers in crisis operations.

The Interpol chief said his organisation was working with China to help it detect lost and stolen travel documents at Beijing airport and other major border entry points.

"This is absolutely crucial if we want to prevent terrorists or dangerous criminals from entering China," he said.