Leaders arrive as event expected to attract 70 million visitors begins six-month run
Security was tight this week as world leaders prepared to fly into Shanghai for the opening of the World Expo, an opportunity for China's financial capital to show its face to the world.
Police were stationed on nearly every corner of the downtown area of the city, and every bag and package had to go through x-ray machines at all subway stops.
The beefed-up security preparations come before today's opening of the marquee event expected to draw 70 million visitors during its six-month run. It will showcase pavilions from every nation.
Besides Chinese leaders such as President Hu Jintao, other leaders, including French President Nicolas Sarkozy, South Korean President Lee Myung Bak and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso were expected to be in Shanghai for the opening ceremony last night.
For some, the increased security was tolerable, but was to become more inconvenient as the leaders start arriving.
"Right now things are not too bad, but ... it will get more tense," said Zhong Zhiti, a 62-year-old grandmother taking her 6-year-old grandson for a walk in a park at the base of the Nanpu bridge, which leads to the expo site.
A giant expo mascot Haibao, a plump sky blue cartoon figure shaped like a stick person, was on display in the middle of the park.
At the entrance to the expo site, people were lined up to get in, but there appeared to be some confusion over passes. The people were volunteers and workers at the pavilions and food stands on the site.
Border officials said that China's borders with neighbours Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan would be temporarily closed from yesterday, in an apparent bid to tighten security.
An official at the Dulata Entry Port with Kazakhstan confirmed that the borders would be closed for five days, from April 30 until May 4. China celebrates May 1, or May Day, as a national holiday.
Another staffer who worked at the Torugart Entry Port, one of the two with Kyrgyzstan, said he didn't know the reason for the closure.
"I just heard it will be closed for May 1st Labour Day," said the staffer who didn't give his name as is common among Chinese officials.
Kyrgyzstan has been wracked by political turmoil after its President, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, was deposed in a violent April 7 uprising that left 85 people dead in the capital.
This year, China's Minister of Public Security, Meng Jianzhu, warned police to prepare for any possible emergencies or terrorist attacks during the event, according to the Xinhua News Agency.
Chinese police are on alert for violence and civil disturbances such as protests that might cause instability or show the country in a bad light. Meng was quoted as saying police would need to concentrate on coping with "complicated situations".
He did not give details.
During the Beijing Olympics in 2008, China launched a massive security clampdown, cancelling tourist visas and clearing the city of migrants months ahead of the games.
CRACKDOWN ON DISSIDENTS
SHANGHAI: Last week, Shanghai's most celebrated dissident announced he would launch a manifesto on human rights to coincide with the World Expo, China's biggest spectacle since the Beijing Olympics. The next day, the police were at his door.
Feng Zhenghu's "Expo of Judicial Injustice" was meant to be a sharp critique of Shanghai's legal system just as China's business capital prepared to show its best face to the world.
But the police confiscated the four computers in his apartment.
They even removed the cables that gave him internet access.
Activists and human rights groups say the celebration comes with a heavy dose of police control.
On Thursday, the Hong Kong-based group Chinese Human Rights Defenders said authorities have been detaining and harassing activists before the World Expo and even sent six people to labour camps for Expo-related activities. It said some of the six became activists after their Shanghai homes were demolished to make way for the event.
"Police in other cities have warned activists not to travel to Shanghai," it said.
- AP
