A deputy director of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the United States on Wednesday said the FBI is willing to offer its expertise to China on security issues relating to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

 

The summer Olympic's security is "a massive challenge for the authorities here in China to deal with," Thomas Fuentes, assistant director of the FBI, told a briefing on Wednesday.

 

"We're offering every possible assistance to them, in terms of information sharing or other technical assistance," Fuentes said.

 

"There are tremendous issues of security as to who's entering the country and what backgrounds they may have, whether they intend violence at the Olympic Games for any variety of reasons," Fuentes said.

 

He said an unprecedented number of foreign visitors will enter China by 2008. He says 200,000 people will work directly with the event and that number does not include spectators and tourists.

 

While complimenting the expertise of Chinese public security officials, he said the FBI has strength in global information sharing and other sectors.

 

The hour-long briefing took place at the US Embassy in Beijing and came the day before the sixth meeting of Joint Liaison Group between China and the United States on law enforcement cooperation.

 

Fuentes said the two-day meeting will address law-enforcement issues concerning corruption, cyber crime, fugitive matters, human smuggling, intellectual property, mutual legal assistance and repatriation.

 

(Xinhua News Agency June 14, 2007)