Anticipating potential confrontations with militants or crimes such as kidnappings and hijackings, police in east China's Jiangsu Province are fine-tuning their negotiating skills and enhancing their psychological readiness.

A month-long special training class began last week, attended by 32 handpicked police officers from around the province. It opens just as news headlines chronicle events such as the kidnappings by terrorists of schoolchildren in Russia -- and the rescue operation in which hundreds of civilians died.

The class is the first of its kind in the province and a rarity in the country.

Dr. Li Changyu, a respected US criminal investigator, presented the first class at the Jiangsu Police Officer Institute in Nanjing, the provincial capital.

"I audited his class," said Qian Jiansheng, vice director of the Jiangsu Provincial Public Security Bureau Information Office. "The doctor made a very attractive lecture by presenting many interesting examples, which were easy for the trainees to digest."

Qian said that during the month-long course, various Chinese and foreign professors and other experts will give lectures. Classes will include criminal psychology, negotiating skills, emergency response and physical training.

Those attending the course will employ what they learn in workshops, practicing negotiating with hijackers and rescuing hostages.

Some experts believe that hijacking is becoming one of the biggest threats to public security in China. Reports of hijackings have increased substantially since July, leading the government to give greater emphasis to crisis negotiating skills.

(China Daily September 6, 2004)