China makes security top priority

By Nick Mulvenney

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese paramilitary troops have been issued a mobilization order to ensure a trouble-free Olympics, as security became Beijing's top priority for the 2008 Games after anti-Chinese riots in Tibet and nearby provinces.

"Without security guarantees, there cannot be a successful Olympic Games, and without security guarantees the national image will be lost," President Hu Jintao was quoted as saying in the official newspaper of China's anti-riot forces on Tuesday.

The People's Armed Police News said a "political mobilization order" had gone out to the People's Armed Police troops telling them to prepare for an arduous time ensuring order and control before and during the Games in August.

"The drums of war are sounding, a decisive battle is at hand. For the sake of the Chinese nation's image and for the honor of the People's Armed Police, let us never forget our duty," it said.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) official Kevan Gosper said the Chinese were taking security very seriously and that preparations had been "excellent".

The official warnings come in the wake of anti-Chinese riots and protests in Tibet and nearby western provinces in March, and after international rights groups vowed protests at the Games to highlight their complaints about China's policies on human rights and media controls, Sudan's Darfur region, and Tibet.

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.

But the World Uyghur Congress is urging a boycott of the Olympics opening ceremony to mark what it describes as oppression, said Dilxat Raxit, spokesman for the German-based organization.

"We agree that attention to Tibet is appropriate, but don't forget us Uighurs, otherwise before the Olympics, China could crack down harder," Raxit told Reuters by phone.

Security spending for major sporting events has soared since the September 11 attack on 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.

Saturation security at the torch-lighting ceremony kept ordinary citizens well away from the capital's Tiananmen Square on Monday and underscored China's fears of any unrest or protest sullying the Games, on which the government has spent billions in a show of national prosperity and confidence.

SHAME

"I want to emphasize that if anyone wants to use this grand sporting occasion for the whole world as their own political platform they have come to the wrong place and will bring shame upon themselves," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told a news conference.

"...If there is any interference or sabotage to the relay of the Olympic torch, it will be an open provocation to the charter and spirit of the Olympics."

The IOC has come under increasing pressure this year to use its influence with China on human rights, pressure that has increased after the unrest in Tibet.