China denies exaggerating Olympic terror threat
Updated
Olympic organisers have denied Chinese authorities are exaggerating the extent of the terrorist threat to next month's Beijing Games in order to justify a massive security clampdown.
Human rights groups allege that China's communist rulers have jailed dissidents, hyped up a terrorist threat in its Muslim northwest and conducted other activities to silence all forms of opposition in the run-up to the games.
"There is no basis whatsoever for this kind of allegation,"
But spokesman for the Olympic organising committee, Sun Weide, says there is no basis for such an allegation.
"For organising the world's largest sporting event, I think we have to base our strategy on prevention," he said.
"So that is what we are doing. We are targeting all kinds of terrorism and both traditional and non traditional threats."
Chinese authorities have for months warned of the potential threat to the Olympics from pro-independence activists in its remote Muslim-populated Xinjiang region and Buddhist Tibet.
In the latest case, state-run media says police have broken up 12 terrorist cells in Xinjiang this year as part of the nation's pre-Olympic security blitz.
Last week the official Xinhua news agency said 82 suspected terrorists in Xinjiang who had been involved in plotting attacks on the Olympics had been arrested.
Mr Sun cited the activities of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, listed by the United Nations and the United States as a terrorist organisation, as one justification for the pre-Olympic security operation.
