CHINA: OLYMPICS - Beijing launches round-the-clock checkpoints for Olympic security

Record ID: 329704

  • Title: CHINA: OLYMPICS - Beijing launches round-the-clock checkpoints for Olympic security
  • Date: 16th July 2008
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) LIU JINGCHUAN, BUSINESSMAN WHO IS DRIVING INTO BEIJING, SAYING: "At the current stage, the security checks are necessary, but as I have been living overseas for many years, I think the checks have increased tension in the atmosphere."
  • Embargoed: 31st July 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: China
  • Country: China
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVAECMZ3XQOCHFC7JOBOLH68IEMI
  • Story Text: Armed police in the Olympic host city Beijing enforce 24-hour security checks around the city to maintain safety.
    24-hour security checks are underway across Beijing to guard against terrorist attacks during the upcoming Olympic Games.
    China has long identified terrorism as the biggest threat to the Games and with this in mind, Beijing police established hundreds of checkpoints guarded by armed officers and sniffer dogs, three weeks before the August 8th opening.
    At the Beiwu checkpoint, located between Beijing and the neighbouring Hebei province, police were busy checking every vehicle coming into the city.
    Drivers were asked to stop and police checked identity documents, while cars were searched thoroughly by detectors and sniffer dogs.
    Police chief Wang Jun, who is in charge of security checkpoints, said the round-the-clock security operation is a tough task.
    "The pressure is significantly big. In fact, the pressure does not only refer to the environment, as it is very hot in summer, but more importantly, the challenge comes from the task of ensuring a safe Olympics," said Wang.
    China's Vice President Xi Jinping said last week security is the single most important factor in hosting a successful Olympics.
    Despite some delays along their journey, many drivers supported the security measures.
    "The checks are for the security of Olympics and we feel safer when entering Beijing and people in Beijing will feel safer about us too," said Gou Jincai, a driver coming from Hebei.
    But others were not so supportive.
    "At the current stage, the security checks are necessary, but as I have been living overseas for many years, I think the checks have increased tension in the atmosphere," Liu Jingchuan, a businessman, while being checked by police.
    China, eager to use the Games to showcase its rise as a modern economic power, has already instituted a raft of security measures from bag searches already being conducted on the subways to protective armoury, like surface-to-air missiles, put in place around the major venues.
    A 100,000-strong anti-terrorism force is also in place.
    Olympic security costs have spiralled since the 2001 attacks on the United States, but China is hoping to secure the Beijing Games for considerably less than the $1.8 billion U.S. dollars spent in Athens four years ago by using its own forces.
    Human rights groups, however, say that China is using Olympic security as an excuse to crack down on internal dissent, particularly in Xinjiang and Tibet, the scene of the March 14 riots that sparked anti-Chinese protests around the world.
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