China denied warning luxury hotels in the country of a possible attack by Islamic extremists over the next week, saying yesterday that the threat was a hoax.
The US yesterday withdrew a statement issued by its embassy in Beijing on Wednesday that Chinese police had warned of an attack, saying the source of the threat was not credible.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao (劉建超) said authorities had "never issued such a warning."
Liu said the information given to the US embassy was a hoax.
"This news was fabricated by a certain foreign citizen" who reported it anonymously, Liu said at a regular briefing.
The warning posted on the embassy's Web site said that Chinese police had ``advised hotels that Islamic extremist elements could be planning to attack four and five star hotels in China sometime over the course of the next week.''
"The Chinese Ministry of Public Security informed the US embassy in Beijing on Nov. 10 that Chinese security authorities have determined that the source of a reported threat against four- and five-star hotels in China is not credible," the US Consulate in Hong Kong said in an e-mail.
"The United States Government is not aware of any other information of any threat against hotels in China, including Hong Kong. Our warden message[s] of Nov. 9 and 10 on threats to hotels is therefore retracted," it said.
Matt Williams, associate director of Pacific Strategies & Assessments, said Chinese police sent a memorandum to hotels late last week that included "very, very basic" security recommendations, adding there was no information on specific threats. "The message got blown out of proportion," he said.
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