Only days before the Beijing Olympic Games fresh fear over safety and security have been generated by the Western media. This comes after an attack on police in North West province Xinjiang which left 16 officers dead. A tragedy for those involved the attack has seemingly heightened focus on security in Beijing. It is said that tension has already increased too as 2 Japanese journalists were allegedly beaten by Chinese police in Kashgar, both police and Chinese government have apologised. However incidents such as these will raise the question whether Beijing is secure against security threats. Is Beijing really in danger?

 The question is not really whether Beijing is in danger or not, as any major city across the globe will have some degree of threat to it when hosting any major sporting event. The question is whether Beijing is at a higher risk than other cities because of the country's past and present actions. Beijing games spokesman Sun Weide maintains that the capital city will be safe "China has focused on strengthening security and protection around Olympic venues and at the Olympics village, so Beijing is already prepared to respond to any threat." The IOC believes everything possible has been done to ensure the security and safety of everyone at the games.

 100,000 officers are on standby for the opening ceremony on Friday and security in the problematic area of Xinjiang has been increased. China is not ignoring the threat from Xinjiang, but they are used to trouble in that area. The Uighurs, who are native to Xinjiang, have been fighting for their independence for decades now. Nevertheless China has never been willing to let the area go as it is too valuable in terms of forestry and agriculture. So the unrest continues but can an area 2,500 miles (approximately 4000km) away from Beijing really threaten the games?

 Of course it is a possibility, if there is anything that has been learnt in the past few years it is that terrorism can strike anywhere. Obviously China is no exception and the Islamic extremist separatist group ‘Turkestan Islamic party' has been strongly linked with the recent trouble. Regardless of whether they were involved on Monday or not the group has previously been responsible for explosions on two buses in Yunnan and Shanghai in which 5 people were killed.

 However the Chinese media's response was not as sensational as it almost certainly would have been in the west. Although it is obviously tragic for the victims and their families there is something to be said for the way that the Chinese Communist Party, and therefore the media, responds. The terrorists were given little coverage in the media, thus they were given no reward for their cowardly acts. In the past month the Turkestan Islamic Party has broadcast warnings that if China goes ahead with the games they will try to attack them. Their leader, Commander Seyfullah, was unimpressed with response he received "The Chinese have heartily ignored our warnings."

 With the media in the UK seemingly determined to let politics overshadow these Olympic Games, it will be refreshing to finally see Friday's opening ceremony. Personally I do find it disappointing when anyone who expresses pro-China arguments, especially overseas Chinese people, are labelled as "Brain-washed" because they listen to Chinese sources.

 The next Olympics is in London of course, would it be fair then to expect explicit criticism of the United Kingdom in the Chinese media? After all Britain has now become the world's largest seller of arms, so are those who so fervently oppose China's attitude towards Tibet going to protest at Britain's involvement in most of the world's conflicts? I doubt it somewhat.

 I spoke to Emilie, a foreigner living and working in Beijing, about the changes she has noticed in the past 6 months. Recently she was stopped by police for the first time in China and had to answer questions and produce her passport. Tensions are evidently high as now foreigners are required to register their address and what they are doing, a process she has already done in another part of China.

 However mainland Chinese that are not from Beijing are required to hold a permit to enter Beijing during the games, a step that is most likely aimed at stopping possible troublemakers entering from Tibet or Xinjiang. She also told me about the new ‘Olympic traffic only' lanes on Beijing's roads where anyone breaking this rule receives an automatic 200 kuai (approx £15) fine.

 Another rule that perhaps is a little paranoid is that if Olympic traffic is passing by citizens are forbidden to use any bridge that passes over this traffic. Obviously the organisers are using the old security saying "yes I'm paranoid, but am I paranoid enough?"

 Similar to the UK, freedoms have been sacrificed for the sake of security. However at the most important time for China security is arguably at its most heightened since the country was opened up to the world. Only time will tell if it is enough to ensure we have a safe Olympic games.  

Andrew Mellor