Looking For You

Chinese intelligence will be looking out for troublemakers like terrorist groups and especially human rights groups

China’s intelligence services are gearing up for next year’s Beijing Olympics, gathering information on foreigners who might mount protests and spoil the nation’s moment in the spotlight.Government spy agencies are compiling lists of potentially troublesome foreign organizations, looking beyond the human rights groups long critical of Beijing, experts said.

They 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 angry about global warming.

“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.

Concerns about foreign protesters are a reminder of how the Beijing games differ from most previous Olympics. Aside from the hefty $40 billion price tag and the government’s outsized political ambitions, security poses a different challenge, complicated by Chinese leaders’ repressive policies at home and growing profile abroad.

Like all Olympic hosts post-Sept. 11, China’s security services are concerned about terrorism. Attacks by militant Islamic groups, some of them homegrown, top the list of scenarios the police and the military are preparing for, experts said.