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China: Terrorists Not Olympic Threat

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The Associated Press

Published: August 2, 2008

Updated: 08/02/2008 12:19 am

BEIJING - A Chinese army officer warned Friday that Islamic separatists are the biggest threat to the Olympics, but a regional official played down the danger.

At a rare briefing one week ahead of the opening of the games, Senior Col. Tian Yixiang of the Olympics security command center told reporters the biggest threat came from "the East Turkestan terrorist organization"- the government's standard term for jihadist groups seeking to establish an Islamic state in China's far western region of Xinjiang.

A secondary threat came from Tibetan separatists whom the government accused of orchestrating a wave of violent protests in western China in the spring, Tian said.

"These forces are trying all means to sabotage the Beijing Olympic Games," Tian said, adding that a force of 34,000 soldiers has been positioned in Beijing and other Olympic host cities such as Shanghai to guard against such threats.

However, the deputy governor of the Xinjiang accused journalists of exaggerating the terrorist threat.

"These terrorist groups are not as capable as some media organizations have claimed or broadcast," Kurexi Maihesuti told reporters in Beijing.

New terrorist concerns were prompted last week by videotaped threats purporting to be from an Islamic militant group claiming responsibility for explosions in four cities in western China in recent months, including two bus bombings in the city of Kunming that authorities said killed two people and injured 14.

But Maihesuti said many of those labeled terrorists were merely "lawless people."
Human rights groups have long accused Beijing of classifying many personal disputes or criminal acts as terrorism to justify harsh oppression.
Chinese authorities claim to have foiled a series of plots by members of Xinjiang's Uighur ethnic group that it says targeted the Olympics, detaining 82 alleged Islamic terrorists. Few details and no evidence have been given.

China has laid on massive security for the Aug. 8-24 games, as much to prevent protests as to stop crime and terrorism.

DEVELOPMENTS

•Nine German Olympians protested the policies of China's government by posing with pictures of Chinese dissidents in front of their faces. The nine responded to a Suddeutsche Zeitung magazine request sent to 200 German athletes to pose for a spread headlined "We are all Chinese," which was published Friday. The headline was a reference to the famous 1963 "Ich bin ein Berliner I am a Berliner" line by President Kennedy during a speech for freedom after the Berlin Wall was built.

•Olympic organizers unblocked some Internet sites at the main press center and media venues Friday while others remained off limits for journalists covering the Beijing games.

The Associated Press

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