BEIJING: The Chinese intelligence services are gearing up for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, gathering information on foreigners who might mount protests and spoil China's moment in the spotlight, according to security experts and a consultant familiar with the effort.
Government spy agencies and study groups are compiling lists of potentially troublesome foreign organizations, looking beyond the human rights groups long critical of Beijing, they say.
These foreigners include evangelical Christians eager to end China's religious restrictions, activists wanting Beijing to use its oil-buying leverage with Sudan to end the strife in Darfur and environmental campaigners.
The effort is among the broadest intelligence-collection drives Beijing has taken against foreign activist groups, often known as nongovernmental organizations, or NGOs. It aims to head off protests and other political acts during an Olympics the communist leadership hopes will bolster its popularity at home and China's image abroad.
"Demonstrations of all kinds are a concern, including anti-American demonstrations," said the consultant, who works for Beijing's Olympic organizers and asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to talk to the media. The government, he said, is trying to find out what kinds of NGOs will come and what their plans are.
While foreign governments often monitor potentially disruptive groups ahead of big events, Beijing this time is ranging farther afield, looking at groups whose activities would be considered legal in most countries.
As such, the move carries risks for Beijing. Evidence that the government is withholding visas or engaged in heavy-handed policing to suppress protests could draw negative press and unnerve the International Olympic Committee and corporate sponsors.
Scott Kronick, the president of China operations for Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, said he raised concerns about the way protests might be handled when an official with the Beijing Olympic organizing committee asked him about the possibility of activists disrupting the torch relay.
"I said, 'People will understand that. That's the way different groups act. What you need to worry about is what your response is going to be and how you will act,' " said Kronick.
The Ministry of Public Security declined to comment, as did the Beijing Olympic organizing committee.
Like all Olympic hosts since the 9/11 attacks, China is concerned about terrorism. Attacks by militant Islamic groups, some of them homegrown, top the list of scenarios the authorities are preparing for, security experts said.
China also faces disaffected domestic groups: Tibetan separatists, farmers upset at land confiscations, and Falun Gong, a spiritual movement that the government has suppressed as a cult.
