August 06, 2008	Wednesday	Sha’aban 3, 1429

CHENGDU (China), Aug 5: The Olympic torch arrived in China’s capital on Tuesday after a jubilant reception in the quake-ravaged southwest.

Beijing’s residents have been warned they will face sweeping security to prevent troubles on the last leg of the torch’s tour ahead of Friday’s opening ceremony.

“This is the pride of the Chinese people,” worker Xu Min said amid cheering crowds watching the flame in Chengdu, capital of quake-hit Sichuan province where 70,000 people died in May.

But in the northwest, security fears refused to go away, after suspected militants killed 16 policemen on Monday. Riot police flooded the streets in the old Silk Road city of Kashgar and stopped cars. Exiled dissident groups claimed that many local Muslims had been rounded up.

The government and Olympics chiefs shrugged off the attack, assuring 10,500 athletes from 205 countries they would be safe.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC), which promised “an unforgettable moment in Olympic history”, also tried to reassure visitors and athletes that the smog which often envelops the capital would not pose major health problems.

But not everyone is convinced. Members of the US cycling squad arrived at Beijing’s swanky new airport terminal on Tuesday wearing black respiratory masks.

The IOC’s medical chief said it was an unnecessary precaution, and the US Olympic Committee urged the Chinese not to take offence. “It was in no way intended to be disrespectful,” spokesman Darryl Seibel said.

The last leg of the Olympic torch’s mammoth 130-day tour starts at Beijing’s Forbidden City on Wednesday, before touring landmarks like the Tiananmen Square.

In a tradition introduced before the 1936 Berlin Olympics, the flame is lit from the sun’s rays in ancient Olympia, Greece, then carried across the globe by thousands of runners.

Desperate to show its modern face to the world but under pressure from critics, the host nation was shaken by Monday’s attack some 5,000 km west of Beijing.

“This is an individual incident,” Chinese tourism official Du Jiang said. “We are basically a safe travel destination.”

Meanwhile, the Aug 8-24 Olympics will cost Beijing about $40 billion, by far the most expensive in history. Unlike past debt-ridden hosts such as Montreal in 1976 and Athens in 2004, that sum is small change for China’s roaring economy.—Reuters