VOWING that terrorists must be “hunted down and punished,” Chinese authorities are knitting together a security network with regular armed police patrols in streets, strictly guarding crowded sites and cracking down on terrorists in far west Xinjiang.

    This reminds the public of the increased security during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, when more than 100,000 anti-terrorism officers were on high alert.

    Now, it is different. While the Olympics always had an end in sight, anti-terrorism schemes and measures to deal with today’s security situation are becoming a regular practice.

    The Ministry of Public Security said Sunday that Chinese police officers would start a yearlong, nationwide anti-terror operation, involving police forces across the country to coordinate and launch a strong, joint offense against terrorism.

    During the campaign, which will last until June 2015, the priorities are to avoid further terrorist attacks and to prevent forces of terrorism and religious extremism from spreading from Xinjiang to the rest of the country.

    In Beijing, armed police officers have begun patrolling major subway stations including those around the Tiananmen area, the heart of the capital, and the city’s 14 most crowded areas including Xidan, Wangfujing, Beijing Railway Station and the airport.

    “Once an emergency happens, nearby armed police will arrive in the area within one minute,” said Zhang Bing, deputy director of Beijing Public Security Bureau.

    Police are deploying five helicopters in the air and 150 vehicles equipped with riot guns day and night to ensure security.

    In South China’s Guangzhou City, armed police officers wearing bulletproof vests were on patrol, checking the identification cards of passengers at the railway station where five police sentries are stationed day and night.

    Authorities in East China’s Nanjing City are deploying 5,000 police officers, nearly one-third of its total, to the streets so that “the public can see police officers at all time.”

    All of these measures indicate that the Chinese Government is not only lifting the security level but also turning these anti-terrorism measures into regular practice, said Li Wei, director of counter-terrorism with China Institute of International Studies.

    Xinjiang saw its bloodiest day in five years Thursday when 39 people were killed in a terrorist attack in the regional capital of Urumqi.

    In a previous attack in the city April 30, three people were killed and 79 were injured at a railway station. In March, assailants killed 29 civilians and injured another 143 at a train station in the southwestern city of Kunming.

    Zuo Zhijin, former head of Beijing Police College, said patrols in major cities have been more frequent.

    Armed with guns compared with spontoons, the police can better respond to incidents involving guns, bombs and mass violence or terrorism, he said.

    As part of the efforts to show the government’s determination to fight against terrorism and deter those making trouble, Chinese police authorities have intensified anti-terrorism exercises.

    More than 20 provinces, five autonomous regions and four municipalities have conducted anti-terrorism drills since March. Most of the exercises were staged in airports, railways stations and subway stations with scenarios including knife attacks and hijackings.

    The Ministry of Public Security has also launched a three-month program to train police officers, especially those patrolling streets, in using arms.

    The training will improve police officers’ legal knowledge and practical skills so they can effectively use weapons in line with the law and deter criminals when dealing with violent crimes, the ministry said.

    “We use real weapons during the training, and some people have even been injured,” said Zhang Lin, a police officer from the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.

    Yin Wei, an official in charge of police training with the People’s Public Security University of China, said such training should be conducted every year.

    “Using a weapon is like driving a car. If you do not practice, you will forget how to use it,” he said.

    “Regular training is an important guarantee of police officers’ combat abilities. Weapons training organized by the ministry is a strong signal of enhancing ways of dealing with terrorist offences and suppressing terrorists’ rampant momentum,” Yin said

    Under the instruction of the ministry, police organs in various parts of China, including Shandong, Guangdong and Liaoning provinces, have started implementing their middle- and long-term training plans for weapon-use, according to China Police Daily.

    Power of the public

    While the security level is elevated across the nation, the responsibility of fighting terrorism does not only fall on the shoulders of police officers. China is mobilizing the resources of the entire nation.

    Calling terrorism the common enemy of the people, President Xi Jinping urged the public to build a “wall of bronze and iron” to fight against terrorism.

    “(We must) make terrorists become rats, scurrying across a street, with everybody shouting ‘beat them!’” Xi said at a group study session on national security and social stability by the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee in April.

    As a latest show of public power, about 300,000 volunteers in Shanghai were mobilized to help safeguard security at the fourth summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia that was held May 20 and 21.

    Such massive mobilization occurred during the 2008 Olympics, when residents wearing sleeve emblems worked to help professional forces guard against any possible terrorist threat.

    On May 15, 17 retired soldiers formed an anti-terrorism unit in Luohu District, Shenzhen, to protect the security of their community.

    “We formed the team to echo the government’s call to fight against terrorism,” said unit head Huang Jianming. “We will work 24 hours a day to ensure we can reach incident sites within 10 minutes.” The unit members hope to become an important terrorist fighting force and can help maintain stability in their hometown.

    Zhang Xianrui, a legislator of the National People’s Congress, said the public should not be too afraid of terrorists, as they also have weaknesses.

    As long as the public and the police unite to form a comprehensive and strong monitoring network, terrorist violence can be prevented and eliminated, Zhang said.

    While the war on terrorism is waged, experts also warn against infringement on people’s civil rights, as State powers, if unlimited, could harm people’s legitimate rights.

    Liu Renwei, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said some State organs can be granted special rights in emergencies to tackle terrorist attacks effectively, but people’s rights, including freedom of expression and privacy, should be protected.

    “This will be a hard test for the authorities during the war on terrorism,” he said.

    (Xinhua)