SHANGHAI, June 14: Chinese authorities threw a massive security curtain around the country’s largest city Shanghai on Wednesday, before a regional meeting of Asian countries beginning on Thursday.

As leaders arrived for the annual Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, authorities went all out to strengthen security in the financial hub of 17 million people.

Extra police patrolled main roads. A force of 60,000 security officers has been deployed including armed police, soldiers and bomb-sniffing dogs, according to a statement on the Public Security Bureau’s website.

Schools and state companies have been ordered to close, giving many residents an unexpected break from Wednesday to Friday. Buses and ferry schedules were changed and a cross-river pedestrian tunnel shut.

“China’s government and the Shanghai municipality government have made full preparation for this SCO summit. This arrangement is made to make sure the SCO summit goes smoothly,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said.

The organisation was founded 10 years ago to better fight terrorism, religious extremism and separatism in the region.

The SCO is China’s most concerted effort at promoting a regional multilateral forum, but some Western critics say it is ultimately aimed at countering US influence in Central Asia.

Taking part in the meeting will be the presidents of original member states China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan along with Uzbekistan, which joined in 2001.

They will be joined by leaders and ministers from Iran, Pakistan, India and Mongolia, countries which have had observer status since 2004, in reviewing the SCO charter that has recently expanded its mandate to increase economic and energy cooperation.—AFP