A joint anti-terror exercise in ports and shipping was held in south China's Shenzhen city on June 30, with participation from city and Guangdong Province port and public security departments. The country's largest such exercise ever, it demonstrated the country's capability and commitment to fighting terrorism.
 
Equipment and facilities at the port, as well as ships, underwent comprehensive tests of reaction capability at various threat levels. Port departments also practiced coordinating their responses to terrorist activities.

Vice Minister of Communication Xu Zuyuan said the exercise was both successful and important.

A major shipping power with many inland ports and seaports, China is implementing the recent amendments to the 1974 International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) and is carefully fulfilling all related obligations, he said. "Last year, the Ministry of Communication set up a special committee to coordinate work on port safety and security. Working groups at the provincial and city levels have been established and local public security bureaus are involved in this work."

With the terrorism threat made all too real by the September 11 attacks in 2001, the following year the International Maritime Organization began to revise the 1974 SOLAS Convention. The amended convention, the world's first international law on terror at sea, established specific requirements for port construction and the use of ships in this regard.

In the past two years, China has issued a series of corresponding regulations. Some universities have introduced port safety as a major field of study and more than 130 ports have had security assessments.

(CRI.com July 2, 2004)