China warns protesters, allows Tiananmen music

By Chris Buckley

BEIJING (Reuters) - China allowed a first foreign orchestra concert in Tiananmen Square on Sunday but also issued warnings to would-be protesters in delicate efforts to show openness while avoiding embarrassment at the Olympics.

Local Communist leaders want the Games starting on Friday to showcase Chinese modernity and economic progress to the world.

Yet critics have used the build-up to put pressure on Beijing over its treatment of dissent, most notably in Tibet.

Nepal detained 253 protesters, including Tibetan monks and nuns, who tried to stage a silent protest march in front of a Chinese visa office in Kathmandu. Police said the protesters would be freed later on Sunday.

With five days to go before the opening ceremony, Beijing has designated three parks for sanctioned demonstrations. But locals or foreigners wanting to use them must apply five days ahead.

"Citizens must not harm national, social and collective interests," Liu Shaowu, security chief of the Beijing Games Organizing Committee, said in a statement.

The Olympics have galvanized global critics of China on an array of issues from treatment of internal dissidents and censorship of the Internet to policies over the Darfur conflict.

Protests on the Olympic torch relay's international legs remain one of the year's abiding global images.

China has a 100,000-strong security force on hand to deal with terrorism or anti-government protests during the largest international event Beijing has staged.

Meanwhile, a youth orchestra of 2,008 international musicians became the first foreign group to play in Tiananmen Square, performing a medley of classical and modern pieces at the Beijing landmark best known to the world for student protests in 1989.

"This is a significant message from the Chinese to say that China is now open to the world," one of the participants Max Ronquillo, leader of the Guam Territorial Band, told Reuters.

As well as increased scrutiny, the Games have also given the world's most populous nation -- widely regarded as an emerging superpower likely to soon rival the United States -- an unprecedented opportunity to vaunt its progress.

Third in the Sydney 2000 gold medal table, then second in Athens 2004, Chinese hope their athletes will go one better this time and finally overtake the U.S. team.

"HONOUR FOR MOTHERLAND"

Premier Wen Jiabao got into the spirit on Sunday, shooting hoops on a visit to the men's basketball team. It includes one of the nation's totemic sportsmen: the 7ft 6in Yao Ming.