PLA troops primed to keep the Olympics safe

Source: Xinhua  |   2008-7-11  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

TROOPS from the People's Liberation Army were on full alert for next month's Olympics, a senior Games security official said yesterday.

The PLA placement and many other initiatives would ensure a safe Games.

The military had been deployed and were capable of completing security tasks, said Tian Yixiang, director of the military affairs department under the Security Command Center for the Olympics of the 29th Olympiad.

During the Olympics, PLA army, navy and air force members would be coordinated and deployed in the four military commands in and around Beijing, Tian said.

Land forces based in Beijing and three military area commands, including Shenyang, Jinan and Nanjing, would help safeguard the Games.

An engineering force, an army air unit and chemical-defense troops would join the mission, he said.

Combat aircraft, helicopters, warships, surface-to-air missiles, chemical-defense equipment and radar would be used in case of security threats.

Tian said Beijing would follow the lead of other host cities in setting up a no-fly zone policed by the air force.

He said that four steps of countermeasures - warning, interception, forced landing and attack - would be used for potential threats.

Troops would also cooperate with public-security departments to ground small aircraft, Tian said.

A multi-layered naval observation and defense system would be established during the Games, he said.

Prohibited and restricted areas near sporting venues would be set up to monitor suspicious vessels and the navy would be on round-the-clock patrol, he said.

Before any event at sea started, military frogmen would carry out underwater checkups, Tian said.

The focus of the military would be on tackling possible terrorist attacks with nuclear and chemical weapons.

Transportation of unsafe material and waste to Olympic venue cities has been banned by the Ministry of Public Security.