Anti-terrorism expert appointed to bolster Olympic security

By Yang Jian  |   2008-6-12  |     ONLINE EDITION

THE central government has appointed an anti-terrorism expert to oversee security work during the Beijing Olympics in August, a Beijing-based Website reported today.

Yang Huanning, a former member of the standing committee and secretary general of the Political and Law Committee of Heilongjiang Province, has been appointed vice minister of the Ministry of Public Security, the official news portal Qianlong.com said.

Yang, 51, has taken part in the ministry's "coordination work" in Xinjiang and Tibet, the report said.

He also has experience in international public relations and has taken part in some of the country's foreign publicity projects, the report added.

The central government transferred Yang to Heilongjiang Province in 2005.

China has said it would boost anti-terrorist preparations ahead of the Olympics. The country has banned liquids in airports across the country to prevent hazardous materials from being taken onboard plans. Liquids were also banned in Beijing's subway stations.

In Shanghai, which will hold some Olympic soccer games, police have begun luggage searches in random security checks.

The Ministry of Public Security said in April that it had broken up a terror ring plotting to kidnap athletes, foreign journalists and other visitors to the Beijing Olympics.

Police in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region arrested 35 suspected members of the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement from March 26 to April 6 in the provincial capital Urumqi. They allegedly planned the kidnappings during the 16-day event to "increase its world influence and sabotage the Games," a previous Xinhua report said.