The Chinese Swat Team Will Mess You Up

NF Reporter · 06-17-2007, 03:21 AM

Must be practicing synchronized shooting for the Olympics.

More...

waltky · 03-20-2008, 06:43 PM

Will China's Rising Crime Spook Tourists?

Rising Crime Against Foreigners Spooks Travelers in China
March 20, 2008 - Chinese Criminals Targeting Tourists, Suggests Recent Anectodotal Evidence

Quote:

The troubled Chinese man, obsessed with his outstanding debts, boarded the tourist bus and opened his jacket to reveal explosives. In the only English he spoke that morning, he told the frightened Australian passengers, "I'm sorry." Hours later, the assailant was shot dead by a police sniper, his blood spattering a hostage's jeans. Police jumped over her and shot him again to make sure he was dead. The incident earlier this month in Xi'an, one of China's most popular tourist cities, was an embarrassment for China as it prepares for the global spotlight that comes with this summer's Olympic Games.

Because of China's tightly controlled political system, statistics that break down crime against foreigners were unavailable. But anecdotal evidence suggests foreigners are increasingly targeted, as a booming economy erodes old taboos and some Chinese grow bolder — or like the hostage-taker, more desperate. In cosmopolitan Shanghai in recent months, a foreigner had a knife put to his throat and his money taken. Another was tricked into paying up to $1,000 for a $7 taxi ride. Four thugs surrounded an English boxing star, Ricky Hatton, and stole his $8,000 Rolex.

Shanghai and Beijing are still safer than most foreign cities of their size. Punishments for crimes against foreigners are heavier, police-linked neighborhood watch groups are highly vigilant, and Chinese can't own guns. "China is of course one of the safest places in the world," Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said at a recent news briefing when asked about foreigners' safety. "If you don't believe me, ask your ambassador, ask the U.S. ambassador, ask any ambassador from Western countries, do they feel it is safer in China or safer elsewhere?" But the booming economy draws millions to China to work, study and travel, and criminals increasingly are defying a culture that has long considered foreigners inviolate.

MORE

waltky · 07-21-2008, 05:52 AM

Pre-Olympic terrorism...

Blasts on Chinese buses kill three
July 21, 2008 - THREE separate bus explosions killed at least three people and injured 14 in the southwestern Chinese city of Kunming today, amid a security clampdown ahead of next month's Beijing Olympics.

Quote:

The explosions were believed to have been deliberate, state-run media said, citing local police. The blasts came within a matter of hours of each other in the capital of Yunnan province and less than three weeks before the Beijing Games which China has warned could be a target of terror attacks.

An explosion on one bus happened at the Panjiawan stop at 7.10am (09.10am AEST) and the second blast was nearby, the official Xinhua news agency said. Pictures showed a gaping hole in the side of one of the buses and glass scattered in the street. Another explosion occured near Minshan, also nearby, the semi-official China News Service said in a report on its website.

Two people were killed at the scene and one died on the way to hospital, the report said. But a Yunnan government official said there had only been two explosions. China has occasionally witnessed bus explosions staged by disgruntled farmers or laid-off workers wanting to air grievances over poverty, demolitions or corruption.

The Kunming blasts also came two days after Yunnan police opened fire and killed two rubber farmers in the province's Menglian county in a clash that also saw 41 police officers injured. The clash was sparked when police tried to arrest five people in Menglian for allegedly attacking a local rubber company in a long-running dispute between farmers and the private firm, state media said.

Blasts on Chinese buses kill three | NEWS.com.au

See also:

No Olympic hangover for Chinese economy
July 20, 2008 - CHINA'S robust economy is unlikely to hit the skids after the Olympics, unlike most host nations who have endured post-Games downturns, experts say.

Quote:

All but one host of the Games over the past five decades have been hit by economic hangovers once the Olympic flame has gone out. But that will not happen to China, said Fan Gang, an advisor to the Chinese government and director of the National Economic Research Institute, a non-government think tank at the China Reform Foundation.

"Personally, I feel very optimistic that the Chinese economy after the Beijing Olympics will continue to grow rapidly and healthily,'' he said. Most Olympic host cities suffer a fall off of investment and a slowdown in gross domestic product once the Games end and the reality of footing the bill for the world's biggest sporting extravaganza sinks in.

"Of the 11 cases we examined since 1956, only the US (Atlanta) in 1996 did not show a slowdown following the Olympics,'' investment banker Morgan Stanley said in a recent report. A key factor in post-Olympic economic performance is the size of the country and the share of the economic pie held by the host city, the report said.

More No Olympic hangover for Chinese economy | Business Breaking News | News.com.au

waltky · 08-10-2008, 09:48 PM

Olympic security on alert...

Olympic time violence: 8 killed in China
10 Aug 2008, Eight persons were killed after terrorists attacked the office of the public security bureau using handmade explosives in the early hours of Sunday morning in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, which the base for a separatist movement.

Quote:

The incident appeared omnimus as it came soon after separatists killed 16 policemen in the same region. Security forces have launched a major hunt for terrorists on the suspicion that they might sabotage the Olympic Games facilities in Beijing. It is the attackers that suffered the most in the incident that took place in Hualin Market in northwest China's Kuqa County. The police said that seven of the persons killed were terrorists. Three of the separatists were gunned down by the police and four of them committed suicide, the police said. A security gaurd posted at the PSB office was also killed.

This is a somewhat rare occasion when four Xinjing separatist are reported to have committed suicide after a failed attempt to bomb a security post of the government. The attack comes soon after separatists killed 16 policemen and injured 16 others in the same Muslim dominated region, which is witness to a East Turkmenistan movement aimed at splitting a portion of China. The police last month claimed they had cracked five terrorists groups involved in operations to damage the facilities at the Olympic area in Beijing.

Sunday's blast at the PSB office killed a security guard and wounded two police officers and two civilians, the official Xinhua said. The police responded killing one attacker and capturing another. A third bomber killed himself, the news agency reported. The police later spotted five attackers hiding under a market counter and shot two of them dead. The other three committed suicide, Xinhua said. The attackers were 15 people with explosives made of pipes, gas canisters and liquid gas tanks, the police said.

Source

Eagle One · 08-16-2008, 09:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NF Reporter

Must be practicing synchronized shooting for the Olympics.

More...

Show some respect; that was brought to you by the same people who invented the Chinese Fire Drill.