CHINESE POLICE thwarted a planned attack on the Olympic Games by a group based in western China, a senior Chinese official said yesterday, highlighting the issue of security just five months before the Games begin. 国一位高官周日透露，新疆维吾尔自治区警方不久前破获了一个酝酿对奥运会发动袭击的团伙。在距离北京奥运会开幕仅剩五个月之际，该事件突出了确保奥运会安全的重要性。


State-run Xinhua news agency quoted Wang Lequan, the Communist Party's chief in the western territory of Xinjiang, as saying Chinese police had killed two militants and captured 15 in a raid in Urumqi, Xinjiang's capital in January. Mr. Wang said the group, which he labeled a terrorist organization, had been plotting an attack on the Games, which are expected to draw an estimated two million visitors to Beijing in August. The Associated Press reported that the raid occurred on Jan. 27, according to Mr. Wang. 新华社报导引述新疆自治区党委书记王乐泉的话称，在乌鲁木齐警方今年1月份开展的逮捕行动中，该团伙有2人被击毙，15人被逮捕。王乐泉称，这一恐怖组织事前曾计划袭击北京奥运会。据美联社引述王乐泉的话称，警方是在1月27日开展的行动。北京奥运会将于今年8月份举行，预计将吸引200万游客到访北京。

Xinjiang, with about 20 million residents and spanning about a sixth of China's land mass, contains large deposits of oil and other natural resources and has been a trouble spot for China's government for years. The region's main indigenous people are known as the Uighurs, a Turkic Muslim people who have chafed at the rule of China's majority Han population. 新疆自治区位于中国西部，人口约有2,000万，面积约占中国国土面积的六分之一。新疆拥有丰富的石油和其他自然资源，但多年来一直是中国治安问题的热点地区。

Also yesterday, Xinhua quoted Nur Bekri, Xinjiang's governor, as saying that air police had helped to foil the attempted crash of a China Southern Airlines plane that departed from Urumqi on Friday. He didn't name any suspects, and officials so far haven't linked the event to terrorism. 新华社周日还援引新疆自治区主席努尔·白克力(Nur Bekri)的话报导称，上周五在南方航空公司(China Southern Airlines)一架从乌鲁木齐起飞的班机上有人企图制造坠机事件，所幸的是歹徒被机组人员制服。白克力并未透露犯罪嫌疑人的名字，而政府方面也仍未将此事件与恐怖分子联系在一起。


The Associated Press also quoted him from the sidelines of the National People's Congress in Beijing as saying the crew had helped to land the aircraft safely in the western city of Lanzhou at 12.40 p.m. Friday, and there had been no damage or injuries. 'Some people were attempting to create an air disaster,' Xinhua quoted him as saying. 美联社记者在全国人大会场外对白克力进行了采访。他透露，这架班机于上周五下午12点40分在兰州机场安全降落，没有人员伤亡和财产损失。据新华社引述他的话称，有人企图在这架飞机上制造空难。


A China Southern Airlines spokesman last night denied any knowledge of a threat to company aircraft. 南方航空的发言人周日晚间表示，并未获悉本公司航班曾受到任何威胁。

At Lanzhou airport, an official confirmed the airline had landed a plane some time after noon Friday but said records show it wasn't for an emergency. Air traffic toward Beijing was getting congested so the plane was asked to wait at Lanzhou for traffic to clear, the official said. 而兰州机场方面，一名管理人员证实有一架南方航空的飞机于上周五午后在机场降落，但表示纪录显示这并非紧急降落。按照管理人员的解释，因为飞往北京的航道出现拥堵，因而要求这架班机在兰州机场等候以待航道疏通。


In the January raid tied to the Olympics, Xinhua reported that the group targeted by police had collaborated with the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, or ETIM, whose members have been accused by the Chinese government of many terrorist attacks. 新华社报导，新疆警方1月份破获的暴力团伙与东突厥斯坦伊斯兰运动(East Turkestan Islamic Movement)有关。据中国政府称，这个组织成员在中国策划了多起恐怖袭击。


Chinese officials have claimed that separatists and other extremists in Xinjiang have been responsible for more than 260 terrorist actions in the past decade, in which at least 160 people were killed and 440 injured. 中国政府表示，过去10年来，新疆的分离主义分子和其他极端分子共在中国制造了260余起恐怖袭击，造成至少160人死亡、440人受伤。

'The Olympic Games slated for this August is a big event, but there are always a few people who conspire sabotages. It is no longer a secret now,' Mr. Wang was quoted by Xinhua as saying. 'Those terrorists, saboteurs and secessionists are to be battered resolutely, no matter what ethnic group they are from,' he said, according to Xinhua. 新华社引用王乐泉的话称，即将于8月份举行的奥运会是一大盛事，但总有一小撮人想要从中破坏；现在这已经不是一个秘密。他表示，任何企图分裂祖国，破坏民族团结的违法行为，必将受到法律严惩。


Little is known about the ETIM's effectiveness or size. Some analysts say it may have no more than a few dozen members and doesn't appear to have the capacity to inflict large-scale damage. Both the U.S. and the United Nations have labeled ETIM a terrorist organization. 东突伊斯兰运动这个组织的能力和规模究竟如何，外界所知甚少。一些分析师估计，该组织可能只有十几个人，似乎并不具备进行大规模破坏的能力。美国和联合国都将东突伊斯兰运动列为恐怖组织。

The group hasn't claimed responsibility for many of the alleged activities of the past -- as terror groups often would do after they launch an attack. Some members, however, have admitted that the group had contacts with al Qaeda terrorist-network leader Osama bin Laden dating back to camps in Afghanistan prior to the U.S. invasion of that country in 2001. 该组织一直以来都没有宣布要为官方宣布的许多恐怖活动负责。相比之下，其他恐怖组织往往会在事后声称为袭击负责。不过该组织一些成员承认，早在美军2001年进入阿富汗之前，东突伊斯兰运动就曾与本•拉登(Osama bin Laden)领导的基地组织(al Qaeda)有过联系。

January's raid on the alleged Olympic terrorists and Friday's airline scare raise questions about whether they are isolated cases and how effective Chinese authorities will be in forestalling sabotage leading up to the Games. 现在让人心生疑问的是：中国警方1月份抓获的那批试图破坏奥运恐怖分子和上周五企图制造空难的那批人之间是否存在联系，抑或它们仅是单独个案？以及中国政府是否能有效地挫败那些针对奥运会的破坏活动？

Yesterday's revelations by Chinese officials might be intended to demonstrate that the authorities are well aware of the security threats and are capable of controlling them. 而中国官员周日对外透露这两起案件的目的可能正是向外界表明政府对安全威胁有充分的认识，并有能力控制住局面。


Jason Leow