Tighter Olympics security sought with less ‘bother'

tauringhuang.

By Mure Dickie in Beijing
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
  

The top Chinese official in charge of Olympic preparations has demanded a tightening of already sweeping security measures surrounding the games, but balanced this with a call for efforts to minimise the “bother” caused to the public.

The call from Xi Jinping, vice-president, comes amid heightened terrorism concerns after two people died and 14 were injured in the unexplained bombing of two buses in south-western Yunnan province on Monday.

A security crackdown involving multiple ID checks for foreigners and locals, hundreds of roadblocks around the capital and curbs on entertainment activities have already led some to dub the 2008 games the “no-fun Olympics”.


Mr Xi's comments, reported in state newspapers yesterday, left no doubt that leaders are grappling with the issue of ensuring security without alienating residents during the games.

“If the Olympics are not safe, there is nothing else worth speaking of,” Mr Xi, a member of the Communist party's ruling politburo standing committee, was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua news agency.

“Under the pre-conditions of as far as possible benefiting the people and causing them minimum bother, Olympics security work must be carried out even more strictly and even more appropriately,” he said.

Chinese leaders have previously referred only obliquely to the disturbance caused to Beijing residents by the mammoth task of hosting the world's biggest sportsfest, while state-controlled media have maintained a relentlessly upbeat tone in Olympics coverage.

Last week, Olympic security supremo Zhou Yongkang said security checks such as the hundreds of roadblocks around Beijing should be “civilised, speedy and convenient” as well as thorough. But even after checks were streamlined, drivers complained about being stopped many times.

Many in Beijing are grumbling about intrusive security, with complaints appearing on websites, despite the suppression by internet censors of discussion deemed critical of the games.

“My colleagues and I all reckon that during this period it's better not to go out on the street or to anywhere there are a lot of people,” one internet user going by the name of Li Puman wrote yesterday. “The government has turned this into the Harassment Games,” complained another.

It is unclear how Beijing can balance such feelings against its determination that the games be undisturbed by danger or dissent.

However, Michael Payne, who was in charge of marketing for the International Olympic Committee until 2004, says the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games – held while memories of 9/11 were still fresh – is an example of how a friendly ap-proach can reduce the chilling effect of tight security.

Beijing can also draw on reserves of goodwill among residents, many of whom are deeply proud that their city is the Olympic host.