Qingdao Diary: Tight security at SCO summit

With heads of more than a dozen countries, including Russia and China, arriving in Qingdao for the SCO summit, the Chinese security apparatus went to extraordinary lengths for security sanitisation of the city.

Minus The Metal

With heads of more than a dozen countries, including Russia and China, arriving in Qingdao for the SCO summit, the Chinese security apparatus went to extraordinary lengths for security sanitisation of the city. All hotels in which journalists and delegates were staying were asked to refrain from providing metal knives and cutlery, and diners had to make do with plastic knives. The only place the Chinese authorities did not have a problem allowing metal cutlery was the media centre for the 3,000 journalists who had arrived to cover the summit.

Helping Hand

The Chinese government enlisted nearly 2,000 student volunteers to help guests at the summit and act as translators. Dressed in blue and white uniforms, the volunteers were selected from nearly 20,000 applicants. China has a history of using volunteers to assist the state’s security apparatus. They are usually middle-aged and senior citizens who stand out because of a red band on their arm. In Qingdao, an additional 18,000 red-band volunteers were out on the streets to help the authorities.

Local Flavour

China has identified Qingdao as an industrial base for its robot industry. With the SCO summit being held in the coastal city, the Chinese government deployed robots manufactured in the city to facilitate the functioning of the media centre for journalists. A robot called Liuliu was deployed to provide consultation, guidance and navigation services. Another robot was deployed for security and heat source scanning to avoid fire.

Broad Reach

China has taken massive steps in ensuring that its voice is heard loud and clear around the world. China Radio International, the state-owned international radio broadcaster of the People’s Republic of China, broadcasts in 65 languages. Of the 20 staffers who work in its Tamil service, 17 are Chinese, all of them proficient in the language. The same is the case with most of its other language services, where local people proficient in those languages outnumber foreign staffers.

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