China has stepped up security in Beijing to counter the possible threat of terror attacks, in a move coinciding with a string of bombings in the country, police said yesterday.
"We are on higher alert than usual in the past several days," a People's Armed Police sentry guarding a government office in the capital said.
"It's probably related to the recent anti-terrorism situation in the country and Beijing is, of course, a sensitive place," the guard said.
He mentioned no specific threat, but the security alert follows a series of bombings in the past week.
On Saturday a crude bomb set off in a crowded McDonald's restaurant in the northern tourist city of Xian killed two people.
Another string of 23 bombings hit southern Guangdong Province on Friday and authorities blamed them on a man seeking revenge over family and debt disputes.
"This explosion and the others were all isolated criminal cases," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said.
"These incidents by no means show that the general security situation in China is degrading."
But there were signs Chinese authorities were uneasy over more than just the bombings. Police shut down a road which runs by the US and British embassies last week. They gave no immediate explanation for the closure, which came ahead of the bombings.
Police have cordoned off the road more than once in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks on the US, but the renewed security measures last week surprised some Western diplomats.
The beefed up security also comes before a visit by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, who arrives in Beijing tomorrow for a four-day state visit to discuss a range of issues.
Police at two other government agencies in Beijing also said they had been ordered to step up security.
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