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The Beijing Olympics faced greater
security challenges than previous Olympic
Games according to Interpol and Chinese
officials.
“An attempted act of terrorism is a
real possibility and a real concern that all
Olympic host countries have shared in recent
years,” Interpol secretary general, Ronald
Noble told the opening of the International
Conference on Security Cooperation in
Beijing. “Tibet-related protests have
int roduced s igni f icant addi t ional
complications to the normal security
considerations for a major international
event like these Olympics.”
Beijing was concerned that the foreign
activists protesting China’s management of
Tibet, who dogged the international leg of
the Olympic torch relay, would stage pro-
tests inside China over Tibet, Darfur, human
rights and other issues during the games.
Contributing to the feelings of
uncertainty, in April the U.S. issued a travel
alert for travel in China citing an increased
risk of attacks within the country in the near
future, including possibly at the Olympic
Games.
“Any large-scale public event such as the
upcoming Olympic Games may present an
attractive target for terrorists,” the U.S. State
Department said in the alert.
There was concern that China, while
it has not been directly targeted by groups
such as al Qaeda, did not appreciate the
scale of the security required for the games.
In 2004 Athens spent $1.8 billion on secu-
rity including preventative measures such as
the use of NATO early warning aircraft.
Beijing believed it could deliver a se-
cure games for a fraction of this cost using a
colossal force of volunteers. Some 600,000
volunteers will assist the 100,000 police
patrol venues, hotels and streets, while
citizens with red armbands will patrol
neighbourhoods during the games. There
is a network of approximately 300,000
surveillance cameras covering Beijing.
Since last year, Interpol has worked with
China to produce threat assessments, follow
up on reports of terrorist and other criminal
incidents which could affect the Olympics
and conduct training sessions in crisis and
major event operations.
Further complicating China’s preparations
for the games was the already realised risk
of natural disaster. However, Beijing Olym-
pic officials assured foreigners planning to
attend the games that the country was safe
despite an earthquake that killed some
70,000 people.
Zhang Jian of the Beijing Organising
Committee for the Olympic Games (BO-
COG) said visitors need not be concerned
about natural disasters. “What I want to
say to foreign visitors is that the Olympic
Games are safe, Beijing is safe, China is safe,”
Zhang, director of the project management
department.
Li Zhanjun, director of the BOCOG
media centre, said that earthquakes had
been taken into account when building the
31 venues in Beijing.
“When constructing any building in
Beijing, you have to ensure it is able to resist
earthquakes of up to eight on the Richter
scale so the Olympic venues will not be in
danger from earthquakes,” he said.
The magnitude of the May 12th
earthquake in the southwestern province of
Sichuan was 7.9.
following page (clockwise from top):
Pollution highlighted over Beijing tower blocks
Opening ceremonies salute to military
Winter time Olympic ice sculpture
Watercube
Schoolhouse in Sichuan following the May Ear thquake
Sichuan resident walks away from his once home
Beijing
2008
Insight
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