Beijing Olympics 'Face Terrorism Threat'

A Chinese woman walks past a poster which reads "Welcome Olympic, learn the rules with ten want and ten unwanted" on display in Beijing, China, Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2007. China believes terrorism is the biggest threat facing next year's Olympic Games and has called for closer international cooperation to prevent possible attacks, state media said Tuesday. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) (Andy Wong - AP)

BEIJING -- China's top cop said terrorism is the biggest threat at its Olympic Games, and a leading terror expert warned Tuesday that Beijing faces a long-term threat from an Islamic separatist group in its far west.

In remarks appearing on the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, Public Security Minister Zhou Yongkang said China would seek closer cooperation with other nations in dealing with the threat.

"Although the general security situation for the Beijing Olympics remains stable, we still face the challenges of terrorism, separatism and extremism," Zhou was quoted by the state-run China Daily newspaper as saying.

"Terrorism in particular poses the biggest threat," Zhou told a security conference in Beijing on Monday, the paper said.

Safeguarding the Olympics has been one of the biggest costs and concerns for cities hosting the games in recent years. Greek officials spent a record $1.4 billion on security for the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Experts say the terrorist threat to the Aug. 8-24, 2008, Olympics is relatively low, but they warn that Beijing faces a growing threat from Islamic separatists among the Uighur population in the western region of Xinjiang.

However, only one or two terrorist groups are capable of attacks in northeast Asia, and their ability to operate within China's tightly controlled society is very limited, said Rohan Gunaratna, author of "Inside al-Qaida _ Global Network of Terror."

"The threat (to the Beijing Olympics) is medium to low. The threat from the outside is very low," said Gunaratna, who is based in Singapore.

He warned, however, that China's counterterrorism capabilities remain relatively weak, especially in its understanding of groups based outside its borders. "I expect they'll improve a lot before the Olympics," he said.

China has not joined military operations in Iraq or Afghanistan, and has not so far been a target of al-Qaida or other Islamic terror groups.

It recently appointed a special envoy to focus on Middle Eastern conflicts, but Beijing's involvement in the region has mainly been limited to economic contacts and calls for a negotiated settlement to the Palestinian question.

Although Uighur separatists have launched occasional bombings and assassinations, the last serious incidents were a decade ago.