Beijing is implementing a range of new security measures, state media said yesterday, as the Chinese capital cranks up efforts to prevent any disruptions affecting the August Olympics.
The reports came a day after a top Olympic security official said the military would be involved in anti-terror efforts, and government confirmation earlier this week that China had introduce more stringent visa requirements.
Police have begun random night checks of motorists’ documents and have been searching subway and bus passengers for flammable liquids, reports in the Beijing Youth Daily and Beijing News said.
They did not specifically link the measures to the August 8-24 Olympics.
Earlier this week, three people died when a bus in Shanghai burst into flames. Police have blamed the incident on flammable liquids being brought aboard the vehicle, but have given no other details.
Critics of China have accused it of playing up the terror threat to provide an excuse to crack down on dissent, but the US, Britain and Interpol have all issued travel warnings, saying the Games are a potential target for attack.
In comments quoted by Internet media, Olympic security official Tian Yixiang said on Thursday that the army, navy and air force would be employed to protect against such attacks.
“From the standpoint of Beijing Olympic security, the main danger is a terrorist attack from three possible threats: East Turkestan terrorists, Tibetan separatists and the evil Falungong cult,” Tian said.
“East Turkestan” is the name many Muslim ethnic Uighur residents of the western Xinjiang region use for their homeland.
Over the past two months China has announced it broke up four separate “terrorist” cells from Xinjiang, two of which planned Olympic attacks.
However, some observers have questioned the claims, with exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer saying China fabricated them to justify a crackdown on the Uighurs, a Muslim central Asian people who have long chafed under Chinese control.
Beijing also had previously warned of threats from Tibetan forces angered by China’s crackdown on unrest in the Himalayan region and from Falun Gong, a spiritual sect suppressed by Beijing.
China’s top law enforcement official last month told security forces to “strike hard” against any threats to social stability and China said on Tuesday it had introduced tougher requirements for those seeking Chinese visas ahead of the Games to ensure a “safe environment.”
China had already tightened up airline security after claiming that a hijack attempt by a Uighur “terrorist” had been foiled in March.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was