Terrorism is not the only threat to the Beijing Olympics, a top security official said yesterday.

"Apart from possible terrorist attacks, other crimes are also security threats," Meng Hongwei, vice-minister of public security, said during a group interview at a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization's (SCO) Regional Anti-terrorism Structure (RATS) in Beijing.

His comments came a day after a man in Hunan province set fire to two gas cylinders that exploded and injured 12 people. On Tuesday, a man stabbed six policemen to death and wounded four others at a police station in Shanghai's Zhabei district.

Despite those two events occurring, Meng said the country is well prepared for any challenge and is confident of holding a safe Games.

"Olympic security forces and organizations began operating this month," he said.

Security officials in Beijing and five other Olympic co-host cities have made repeated checks at key facilities to identify potential threats, and emergency plans have been drawn up and tested, he said.

International cooperation on anti-terrorism, including that among SCO members, will also help keep the terrorists away, he said.

"Today's meeting is a good example of that," he said.

During the meeting, representatives of RATS member states - Uzbekistan, Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan and Tajikistan - shared information on possible threats to the Games. A joint communiqu on further cooperation is expected to be issued today.

Alexander Goncharov, head of the Russian delegation, said Russia would like to share its intelligence and experience in fighting terrorism, while Adil Shayakhmetov, chief of the Kazakhstan delegation, said his country wants to work more closely with China on law enforcement and information exchange.

Meanwhile, Beijing police said yesterday they will provide help with emergencies during the Olympics in both Chinese and English.

"Minor incidents could become serious if communication problems delay the handling of them, so we have been training our police officers in oral English since 2001," Zuo Zhijin from the Beijing public security bureau said.

"More than 23,000 officers have gained certificates in spoken English, and about 200 can speak other languages, including French, German, Russian, Arabic, Korean and Japanese," he said.

(China Daily July 4, 2008)