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PLA working to protect Olympics from attack

China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) is working hard to safeguard the Beijing Olympics from potential nuclear and chemical weapons attacks, state media reported yesterday.

The Beijing Times said an undisclosed number of troops, while carrying out rescue and evacuation drills at Olympic venues, were focusing on possible responses to terrorist threats involving nuclear and biochemical devices.

"We have scheduled massive training programs before the Olympics to better prepare against any possible threat," an officer from the PLA's General Staff Headquarters told Xinhua news agency.

The Beijing Times said that the military was already at a high stage of readiness for the Aug. 8 - Aug. 24 Summer Games.

None of the reports said how many PLA officers were involved in the security operations, which will also include police, private security companies and volunteers.

Olympic organizers admitted last year to budget overruns caused by extra expenditure on security at the Games, the biggest international event ever staged in China.

When Beijing's bid for the Games was accepted in 2001, the price tag was fixed at 1.6 billion yuan (US$267 million), but the budget is now more than 2 billion yuan.

Last month FBI Director Robert Mueller said during a visit to China that he was impressed with security arrangements and he expected a terrorism-free Games.

US President George W. Bush is one of dozens of foreign heads of state expected to attend the Games.

Last September China's then-police chief Zhou Yongkang (周永康) said that "terrorist" and "extremist" groups posed the biggest threat to the success of the Olympics.

Also See: Collateral risk for China
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