During the Olympics what you most earnestly desire, what you pray for, is to avoid a terrorist incident. Much work goes on behind the scenes to prevent this.

Now Beijing’s international airport is installing high-tech portable bomb detectors as part of its security plan to combat terrorism ahead of the Summer Olympics.

Zhang Zhi, deputy director general of the airport police, said the new detectors will be able to warn of explosives in a few seconds.

He said airport police have already been equipped with X-ray machines, anti-riot robots, and some bomb detection and disposal devices — ‘But we need more and faster bomb detectors for the Games.’

Zhang Zhi said other measures will include setting up a security zone to prevent anyone from taking shots at aircraft as they take off and land. Traffic checkpoints will be set up around the airport. In addition, background checks are being conducted on all airport employees.

China believes terrorism is the biggest threat facing this summer’s Olympic Games and has called for closer international cooperation to prevent possible attacks.

China’s generally secretive police agencies have sought advice on Olympic security from the U.S., Germany, Israel and other foreign governments.

FBI head Robert Mueller said during a visit earlier this year that China’s security preparations for the Olympics were impressive and that his agency was lending its expertise on fending off possible terrorist attacks.
Source: AP

The Chicago Tribune has published a full and well research summary of the importance of the Olympic Games.

It asks when was the last time that China was as confident, prosperous and engaged with the world as it is likely to be at the 2008 Beijing Olympics?

And the answer comes from Wang Xiaofu, a history professor at Beijing University — ‘About 1,300 years ago.’

The article sees the potential. But also sees the potential risks.

The games are hotly anticipated among ordinary Chinese who, by and large, see it as a collective triumph — a rare cause for unity in a nation divided by class, ethnicity and opportunity.

But with 20,000 foreign journalists expected to be on hand, critics at home and abroad are also getting ready to use the occasion as a chance to amplify pressure on China and, at the same time express their dismay and, perhaps, jealousy at China’s success.

Organizers face a dilemma: Clamp down too hard on protesters, and images will be beamed around the world showing foreign guests crushed by a one-party state. But let rallies grow too far on sacred political ground such as Tiananmen Square, and authorities risk emboldening wider unrest.

In particular, the government will have to rely on street cops to differentiate between peaceful protesters and security threats.

Jia Qingguo, vice dean of the Beijing University School of International Studies said, ‘A lot of tough security measures are being developed to combat terrorism, and these people run the risk of being considered terrorists.’

Read the full and well researched article by clicking on source.
Source: Chicago Tribune

Beijing has claimed a marked drop in crime so far this year with police saying the fall sets a solid foundation for a safe Olympic Games.

In the first 10 months of 2007, Beijing police detained over 43,000 criminal suspects, an increase of 12% on the same period last year. The report said new crime cases fell by 2.7% over the same period, but did not give details.

Beijing crime detection officer Li Yuejie said, ‘The improved public security is a good foundation and necessary prelude for next year’s Olympics.’

Although much of China is relatively lightly covered by police, the capital is well supplied, especially at sensitive events such as Communist Party meetings.

Security will be even tighter during next year’s Olympic Games.

Beijing’s police chief said in September that some 80,000 guards including police officers and state-approved volunteers, would help security service forces at the Olympics.

First understand the concept. Your ticket does not need to be punched, examined, handled by humans. Wave it past the scanner and you are in. This is now a well established procedure and most of us have used it or seen it in use.

There are, but of course, different standards, but the one which will be used at the Olympics supports the ISO 14443 type B contactless standard. As with most transit cards, data on the small chips embedded in the tickets for the games will be hard-coded. Chinese officials are ordering more than 12 million paper contactless tickets for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, more than was earlier projected.

France-based contactless vendor ASK has announced its Chinese joint venture had won a contract to supply contactless inlays for 12.2 million low-cost tickets that will be issued to attendees of the games.

The contract calls for ASK TongFang to provide the chip-and-antenna inlays to China Banknote Printing, which will then supply the actual tickets.

The tickets also will carry anti-fraud printing features. They are not, however, totally fraud-proof. But safer than, say, bar codes or other methods.

Organizers of the World Cup football tournament in Germany in 2006 issued more than 3 million paper contactless tickets. There appear to have been no forgeries although, of course, it did nothing to improve the behavior of the English football fans.

ASK formed its joint venture with Tsinghua Tongfang, a mostly state-owned computer and IT company, in 2005.
Source: Card Technology

China will not tolerate unauthorized parades, demonstrations or other gatherings during next year’s Beijing Olympic Games.

This announcement from Public Security Ministry press officer Wu Heping notes a range of groups from religious rights activists to environmentalists. Their chances of holding meaningful demonstrations at the Olympic Games in China are somewhere between slim and none.

Wu Heping said, ‘Any group or individual who stages a gathering, parade or demonstration during the Beijing Olympic Games period must respect Chinese law.
As to legal activities, police will protect them according to the law. As for those activities that are illegal, we police will handle them according to the law.’

Chinese law technically permits protests and other similar actions, but they require applications that are almost never approved. And applications for protests during the Olympic Games probably have no chance whatsoever.

When Beijing was awarded the Games, the head of the International Olympic Committee, Jacques Rogge, said he hoped the event would help to improve the human rights situation inside China. But that was not a sanction for demonstrations. The same firm line against demonstrations at the Olympics was taken in Australia. None happened, except that with permission and to rapturous applause, Cathy Freeman ran her triumphal lap after winning the 400m gold medal draped in both the Australian and the Aboriginal flags.

Note that the IOC charter has forbidden any activism inside the venues during the Games since 1968, when sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos made a black power salute when receiving their medals. The British Olympic Association has taken a hard line, warning UK athletes that they may be thrown off the team if they engage in political activities.