Security was tight yesterday as world leaders prepared to fly into Shanghai for the opening of the World Expo, an opportunity for China’s financial capital to show its face to the world.
Police were stationed on nearly every corner of the downtown area of the city and every bag and package had to go through X-ray machines at all subway stops.
The increased security preparations come before Saturday’s opening of the marquee event expected to draw 70 million visitors during its six-month run. It will showcase pavilions from every country.
PHOTO: PHILIPPE LOPEZ
Besides Chinese leaders such as Chinese President Hu Jintao (錦濤), other leaders, including French President Nicolas Sarkozy, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, will be in Shanghai for an opening ceremony tomorrow night.
For some, the increased security was tolerable, but there were worries it might become more inconvenient as the leaders start arriving over the next two days.
“Right now, things are not too bad, but we think in the next couple of days it will get more tense,” said Zhong Zhiti, a 62-year-old grandmother taking her six-year-old grandson for a walk in a park at the base of the Nanpu bridge, which leads to the expo site.
A giant expo mascot Haibao, a plump sky blue cartoon figure shaped like a stick person, was on display in the middle of the park.
At the entrance to the expo site, people were lined up to get in, but there appeared to be some confusion over passes. The people were volunteers and workers at the pavilions and food stands on the site.
Border officials have said that China will temporarily close its borders with Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan starting tomorrow, in an apparent bid to tighten security ahead of the expo opening.
An official at the Dulata Entry Port with Kazakhstan, surnamed He, confirmed that the borders would be closed for five days, from tomorrow through Tuesday.
An employee at the Torugart Entry Port, one of the two with Kyrgyzstan, said he didn’t know the reason for the closure.
“I just heard it will be closed for May 1st Labor Day [holiday],” the employee said.
Kyrgyzstan has been wracked by political turmoil after Kyrgyz president Kurmanbek Bakiyev was deposed in a violent April 7 uprising that left 85 people dead in the capital.
MEDIA COMPLAINT
Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s Apple Daily, known for its strong pro-democracy views alleged yesterday that the Chinese government had banned it from covering the expo.
The newspaper reported in yesterday’s edition that its more than 10 applications for press credentials still hadn’t been approved — even though journalists from other Hong Kong news outlets had already received confirmation letters.
It said it had separately applied to the Chinese government’s liaison office in Hong Kong for accreditation to cover a delegation of Hong Kong legislators visiting the expo next week, but hadn’t heard back.
Repeated calls to James Zhang, a publicity official for the expo, went unanswered.
A woman who answered the phone at the publicity office at the Chinese liaison office in Hong Kong said she would look into the matter and asked a reporter to call back, but repeated follow-up calls went unanswered.
Founded in 1995 by Hong Kong businessman Jimmy Lai (黎智英) — a staunch democracy advocate — Apple Daily has long been viewed with suspicion by Beijing. The paper is a strong supporter of reforms in China and the territory.
The Chinese government traditionally refuses to accredit Apple Daily journalists for official events on the mainland, Hong Kong Journalists Association chairwoman Mak Yin-ting (麥燕庭) said.
Two of its journalists were accredited for the Beijing Olympics in 2008 — but one was initially turned away at the Beijing airport and had his China entry document confiscated, Mak said. The travel document was later returned and he was able to enter the country on a second try, she said.
Apple Daily’s failure to get press passes for the expo is “a clear restriction of freedom of press and Hong Kong people’s right to know,” Mak said.
“I don’t know what they are afraid of,” opposition legislator and former journalist Emily Lau (劉慧卿) said. “This is laughable and sad.”
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