Measures in place for Congress

Security and air quality get a boost ahead of Communist Party talks

BEIJING: China is tightening security for next month’s twice-a-decade Communist Party Congress, cancelling police leave in Beijing, limiting tourism to Tibet and clamping down on the spread of political rumours.

High-level meetings in China are typically accompanied by a security crackdown – as well as uncharacteristically smog-free blue skies – with the stability-obsessed party not wanting to run the risk that anyone or anything offers a distraction.

Thousands of policemen from other provinces have been sent to the Chinese capital to reinforce, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said. A second source, with ties to the country’s security forces and citing conversations with senior police officers, said all police leave in Beijing had been cancelled starting from early September.

Beijing Communist Party chief Cai Qi on Wednesday asked the city for “120 per cent” effort to ensure safety for the congress, the official Beijing Daily said.

“We must hold the line for social control, eliminate all destabilising factors, hold the line for cyber security and resolutely crack down on political rumours and harmful news,” Cai said.

Beijing’s largest market for metal building materials will be shuttered from today and is being relocated to Hebei province, taking with it more than 10,000 industry workers and stall owners, according to the Beijing Daily.

The market’s unceasing growth had created a “messy environment” where migrants congregate, the paper said, without mentioning the crucial party gathering.

Many of the tightened security measures target migrants, with ID checks at metro stations and patrols outside government ministries to ensure any petitioners from out of town are rounded up immediately should they attempt to make a scene.

Some 2,000 delegates will converge on Beijing for the Congress, staying at hotels across the city, and security will only get tighter as its opening nears, meaning any protests will be quickly shut down.

China’s ongoing clampdown on cyberspace has seen WhatsApp periodically unavailable in the past few weeks, while certain gifs using images of President Xi Jinping cannot be posted to group chats on messenger app WeChat.

New limits have been placed on discussion in private group chats. — Reuters