China's paramilitary told to ensure Olympic stability

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's powerful paramilitary forces must ensure domestic stability for the Beijing Olympics as well as tackle terrorist threats, commanders said at a security meeting.

The People's Armed Police News reported on Thursday that the PAP force, which guards domestic order, was told to prevent any security threats that could upset the Olympic Games in August.

"Make fighting terrorism and all aspects of Olympics security the most important task of all," the paper said, citing an official meeting of PAP commanders on Wednesday.

"Ensuring internal security and stability is an important task for fulfilling Olympics security work."

The PAP is deployed to quell riots and unrest, and has been heavily involved in cracking down on Tibetan protests and riots against Chinese policies and influence that shook the region from mid-March.

Beijing is also worried that activists from abroad, who have disrupted the international journey of the Olympics torch relay, will also stage protests inside China over Tibet, Darfur, human rights and other contentious issues before and during the Games.

Commanders called the security tasks highly "political and sensitive", and stressed that Chinese President Hu Jintao had made security concerns a top priority for a successful Olympics.

"Security and protection work is an important basis for successfully holding the Olympic Games," Hu ordered, according to the paper. "To judge from the pattern of past Olympics, security must be given top priority."

The paper last week issued a "political mobilization order" to PAP troops telling them to prepare for an arduous time ensuring order and control before and during the Games.

China has also said it has foiled terrorist acts by Uighurs seeking an independent homeland for their largely Muslim people in the western region of Xinjiang.

Security spending for major sporting events has soared since the September 11 attacks in the United States, but China has said that by using its own personnel and technology it can hold a safe Olympics for a fraction of the $1.8 billion spent on the 2004 Athens Games.

China's top domestic security official, Zhou Yongkang, is second-in-command of a Communist Party team overseeing preparations for the Games. The PAP has 660,000 troops, the government said in 2006.

(Reporting by Chris Buckley; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)