A deputy director of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of
the United States on Wednesday said the FBI is willing to offer its
expertise to China on security issues relating to the 2008 Beijing
Olympic Games.
The summer Olympic's security is "a massive challenge for the
authorities here in China to deal with," Thomas Fuentes, assistant
director of the FBI, told a briefing on Wednesday.
"We're offering every possible assistance to them, in terms of
information sharing or other technical assistance," Fuentes
said.
"There are tremendous issues of security as to who's entering
the country and what backgrounds they may have, whether they intend
violence at the Olympic Games for any variety of reasons," Fuentes
said.
He said an unprecedented number of foreign visitors will enter
China by 2008. He says 200,000 people will work directly with the
event and that number does not include spectators and tourists.
While complimenting the expertise of Chinese public security
officials, he said the FBI has strength in global information
sharing and other sectors.
The hour-long briefing took place at the US Embassy in Beijing
and came the day before the sixth meeting of Joint Liaison Group
between China and the United States on law enforcement
cooperation.
Fuentes said the two-day meeting will address law-enforcement
issues concerning corruption, cyber crime, fugitive matters, human
smuggling, intellectual property, mutual legal assistance and
repatriation.
(Xinhua News Agency June 14, 2007)