No easy way into China for foreign terrorists: Interpol

BEIJING-China's best defense against the risk of a terrorist attack on the Olympic Games is its strict visa system, now reinforced by worldwide police intelligence from the databases of Interpol.China's requirement that all foreign visitors obtain visas means they are screened well before they show up at its borders, Interpol Secretary General Ronald K. Noble said."It's damn hard to get in here under a false identity," said Noble, who was in Beijing on Friday for the opening of the Games. "And it's damn hard to get out of here without being controlled."Globally, only 24 countries systematically screen passports. So last year, for example, only 20 million of the 880 million people arriving at airports last year were screened, he told Reuters in an interview."In China every person is screened."In the year of the Olympics, showcasing a resurgent China, Beijing has stepped up its collaboration with the 186-nation international criminal police organization, which is based in Lyon, France.Noble said Interpol had established a direct video and telephone hotline to exchange highly sensitive information with top Chinese security officials and China had radically increased its use of Interpol databases."It's been tested and it's working. We hope we don't have to use it," he said, knocking twice on the wooden floor in the bar of Beijing's Marco Polo Hotel.

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