China's airport police have tightened security inspection of passengers, following the China Northern Airline jet crash earlier this month.

The measures -- including checking passengers' belongings, clothes and, even, shoes -- were implemented in Beijing following the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, and will now be enforced nationwide.

Sources with the police department under the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC) confirmed the move Tuesday.

"Though the measures might prolong passengers' check-in time, it will bring a high-level aviation security to air carriers and passengers," the sources said.

China Northern Airline's passenger jet crashed in the sea near Dalian in Northeast China on May 7, killing all 112 people on board.

The accident investigation team have still not ruled out the possibility of a man-made breakage, so spurring airport police to keep a high standard of vigilance.

Beijing Capital International Airport implemented the strict inspections of passengers heading for the United States after the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.

"It could help find dangerous weapons some passengers had deliberately hidden inside their socks or shoes," the sources said.

A women who took a flight in Chengdu on May 17 was the first passenger discovered to have hidden a knife inside her shoes after the tightened inspection was put in place. She was detained by airport police for questioning.

CAAC came under fierce criticism from the State Council after the Dalian fatal aviation accident and the Air China jet crash in Pusan of the Republic of Korea on April 15.

A CAAC official, who preferred to remain anonymous, said the CAAC would do everything in its power to ensure aviation safety.

(China Daily May 23, 2002)