China on Tuesday held its latest anti-terrorist exercise, dubbed "Great Wall No. 4", focusing on Olympic security and the Chinese police's capacity to deal with a hostage-taking incident during the Olympics.

As soon as the combat exercise started, the blue side, acting as terrorists, hijacked more than 20 athletes and confined them in a building.

The red side, the special police, sealed off the police, established reconnaissance of the area and attacked.

The exercise proved successful since the red side rescued the hostages safe and sound without prior knowledge of the enemy's tactics, needing to rely solely on snap unrehearsed decisions, sources with the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) said.

The sources added that with little over a year remaining until the Olympics kick off, China is ramping up its security preparations. On May 28, MPS spokesman Wu Heping announced that China would put advanced weapons, technology and equipment into the field to ensure the maximum level of security. Additionally, 30 additional police helicopters will come into operation by the end of 2007.

On June 6, the Chinese Ministry of Education announced it would increase security guard training to enable more qualified personnel to be on hand for the Games.

Luo Gan, the top law and order official of the Communist Party of China (CPC), viewed the exercise via an audio-visual system, during which he urged that anti-terrorist efforts be intensified to protect both the 17th CPC national congress and the 2008 Olympics.

On Tuesday, the Beijing municipal government also announced that the city would organize its first drill test for a potential terrorist nuclear attack next month.

Organized by the municipal health bureau, the drill would link up several government bureaus, including environmental protection, the center for disease control and the fire brigade, revealed Shan Qingsheng, an official with the government's emergency response office.

(Xinhua News Agency June 20, 2007)