'Possible threat to Westerners' Beijing Sanlitun area over Christmas period!

[GotJack]

Hi chaps,

 

Please be aware the British Foreign Office and BBC news are saying there is a heightened risk to Westerners over the Christmas period in Sanlitun.  Please stay safe, as I know this is exactly the area I'd be looking to eat and celebrate if I was in Beijing right now.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-35174326

 

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/china

 

Merry festive period!

[somethingfunny]

Yeah, take care people.  I know theres a lot of hate for Sanlitun on here but lets try not let that overshadow the message here.

 

Merry Christmas.

[langxia]

Yeah I heard about this as well, but what I wonder is where does the threat come from ?

 

Religious radicals? Chinese Nationalists? North Korean spies ? American spies ? Russian spies ?

[GotJack]

News source suggest from threats originating from Xinjiang Muslim separatists. Who knows though

[vellocet]

Russian spies?  Seriously?  And no, there are no generic 'religious extremists', as usual we're talking about Muslims.  They're the only ones with the motivation to strike in Beijing.  Killing foreigners would be good publicity and ensure that there would be plenty of international media coverage. 

[ChTTay]

Sanlitun had armed police/military stationed around the area, barricades set up, regular sweeps for bombs patrols.

I think beyond index pollution index did a better job of keeping people at home. Yesterday was one of the worst days in terms of visibility that I've seen for a long while.

[Chris Two Times]

Yesterday was one of the worst days in terms of visibility that I've seen for a long while.

 

Oh oh! 

 

Warm regards,

Chris Two Times

[zhouhaochen]

Predictably....nothing happened

[somethingfunny]

Not sure what you're getting at.  Is it not likely that nothing happened because the warning was given and there was an increased police presence? 

[Flickserve]

How about a hoax alert?

[Chris Two Times]

In these times I shall abide by the well-worn adage (cliche?) of "better safe than sorry".

 

Warm regards,

Chris Two Times

[imron]

Is it not likely that nothing happened because the warning was given and there was an increased police presence?

This is what happened with Y2K.

 

Billions of dollars were spent fixing the problem, and then when nothing happened people were like "All that talk about Y2K was nonsense, nothing serious happened".  Of course it didn't!  Billions were spent fixing things so that nothing serious would happen.