China’s in Control

WASHINGTON — In only five days, at 7 p.m., television cameras will roll on the final preparations for 8 p.m. on the eighth day of the eighth month of the eighth year in our century — when the Olympic Games will open in Beijing.

Then, if planning is perfect, China’s President Hu Jintao will host President George W. Bush, Nicolas Sarkozy of France, Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and more than 70 other heads of state in the National Stadium — called the Bird’s Nest — with some 21,000 ticket holders for the opening ceremony of the 29th Summer Olympic Games.

Beijing fought hard to have the games this month and at that specific time. The figures “888″ to millions of Chinese are very auspicious, because “eight” sounds like “prosperous” or “fa” in their language, so “888″ is triple prosperous and augurs good fortune in all endeavors for thousands of years.

But back to the real world.

The security of Olympic athletes from more than 200 countries — and for the three-ring circus of heads of state, leading politicians, corporate VIPs and spectators from every possible corner of the world, with many intending to shout about their very own causes — is being well taken care of by the communist police state.

To demonstrate or speak to a crowd, a police permit is required. Parks, well away from the Bird’s Nest, will be used for these gatherings. No permit equates to lock-up.

Estimates show that China spent about $10 billion in the last seven years on security, with more than half of that money invested in setting up surveillance equipment, such as CCTV cameras, throughout Beijing and other areas where the games will take place.

This, and all the construction work, was done by a million or more unskilled migrant workers. Now, thousands without residence permits have been given an “Olympic holiday” and told to go home until Sept. 17 when the Paralympics Games end. But they are not unhappy. As one said, “It is our responsibility to make the Olympics a success.” And the Politburo doesn’t want unkempt, riotous, idle workers hanging around the street corners.

The Chinese believe that they face three types of attacks: The first is from local groups of “disgruntled Chinese citizens” who oppose the government. These include Tibetans, the Falun Gong and the Uighur minority in the far northwest — Turkic-speaking Muslims allegedly backing a violent Islamic separatist movement in an attempt to set up an independent state of “East Turkistan.”

The second type of attack, very improbable, could be from outside terrorist groups seeking to infiltrate China to carry out an attack. And the third “nightmare” scenario: groups such as al-Qaida taking Chinese nationals hostage overseas with the captors calling for a shutdown of all or part of the Olympics.

So there is armed security. According to the Chinese government, Beijing is now an armed camp. The army has deployed more than 200,000 troops to secure the area by land, sea and air. On standby is a huge anti-terror unit with military specialists in all forms of warfare. Everything efficiently open, visible and not so different from any of the games since Munich.

Air-defense missiles have been set up to protect the stadium. In addition to the military, there are now some 150,000 guards from the People’s Armed Police, plus 290,000 volunteers on patrols throughout the city. During the actual Olympics, at least 80,000 security guards will be directly assigned to the games.

Two parts of the government, the Public Security Bureau and the Propaganda Department, have ordered all Internet Web sites to watch for “unhealthy information.” If they fail or lose control and someone talks about terrorism, names of Chinese nationalities or ethnic groups, the servers will be shut down. No Internet.

Of course, there have been clampdowns on Beijing’s vice district: Bars, call-girl services and night clubs have been cleaned up; hair dressing salons and public baths policed more rigorously; and dance halls told to control their seabeinun (dance hostesses) more strictly.

Even Beijing’s top environment official has pledged to maintain Beijing’s air quality “on good or moderate levels” during the Olympic Games, denying a recent haze over the city was caused by pollution.

“Keeping a good air condition for the Olympic Games is a promise made by the Chinese government,” Du Shaozhong, stated proudly. Hundreds of factories on the outskirts of Beijing releasing heavy emissions have been temporarily shut down, including the Shougang Group, one of the country’s biggest steel makers. Several coking plants have been moved and construction sites ordered to suspend activities before the games.

More than 3 million automobiles since July 20 have run on alternating days based on even or odd numbers on their license plates, a move expected to reduce about 60 percent of car emissions.

Meanwhile, Beijing has been covered by haze since July 25, to some extent discrediting the official’s figures. “Good air quality does not necessarily mean blue sky. We should judge whether there is pollution by scientific statistics, not by what eyes could see,” Du said. Technically, another official said, the haze was partly caused by rainy weather — one thing the Chinese government can’t control.

Dateline D.C. is written by a Washington-based British journalist and political observer.

Originally published by Dateline D.C..

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