China sees activists as Olympic threat
ICC Note: The Chinese government intends to prevent all voices of dissent, such as those calling for religious freedom, from being heard at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. This includes using its embassies worldwide to get names of those associated with NGOs concerned about China s activities as well as infiltrating those groups to gather names.
By CHARLES HUTZLER
7/25/07 China (AP) - Chinas intelligence services are gearing up for next years Beijing Olympics, gathering information on foreigners who might mount protests and spoil the nations moment in the spotlight.
They include evangelical Christians eager to end Chinas religious restrictions, activists wanting Beijing to use its oil-buying leverage with Sudan to end the strife in Darfur and environmental campaigners angry about global warming.
"Demonstrations of all kinds are a concern, including anti-American demonstrations," said the consultant, who works for Beijings Olympic organizers and asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
While foreign governments often monitor potentially disruptive groups ahead of big events, Beijing this time is ranging farther afield, targeting groups whose activities would be considered legal in most countries.
Scott Kronick, the president of Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwides China operations, said he raised concerns about the way protests might be handled when an official with the Beijing Olympic organizing committee asked him about the possibility of activists disrupting the torch relay.
The Ministry of Public Security, the national police agency which runs some domestic spying networks, declined to comment as did the Beijing Olympic organizing committee. Phone numbers for the main spying agency, the Ministry of State Security, are not published, and the Cabinets main information office would not provide them.
"They are worried about a larger number of things and they are worried about keeping the lid on," said Arnold Howitt, who runs crisis-management training programs for Beijing officials at Harvard Universitys Kennedy School of Government
Those worries grew in recent months as a multiplying number of foreign groups mounted public campaigns to tie causes as varied as promoting labor rights and protecting sharks to the Beijing games
In trying to neutralize foreign NGOs, Beijing is in part building on methods used to quash Falun Gong. After declaring the spiritual movement illegal in 1999, Beijing infiltrated the group and identified many among its millions of followers, both within China and overseas.
As with Falun Gong, the security consultant said government agencies were compiling lists of foreign NGOs and their members. He declined to specify whether electronic surveillance or infiltration, a textbook tactic for Chinas police and spying agencies, were being used
Officials in Chinas overseas diplomatic missions are also being tasked to gather information on groups, the consultant said.
When The Associated Press reported in May on plans by U.S. and other Christian groups to proselytize at the Olympics, the press officer at Chinas U.N. mission contacted the AP seeking more information.
"Africa, global warming, Darfur," said the security consultant, "without the Olympic Games, Beijing would not be paying attention to these things."
