China to put police officers on airline flights this summer

BEIJING -- A new police force formed to guard China's airlines in response to the Sept. 11 terror attacks will start flying on domestic flights this summer, a state newspaper said Tuesday.

Two officers from the 2,000-member force are to be assigned to each plane in July or August, the China Daily said. It said recruits, picked in part based on military experience and "good morals," were being taught English and martial arts.

A spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority of China, the national airline regulator, confirmed that such a force has been formed.

The CAAC spokesman, who would give only his surname, Song, wouldn't say how the officers would be armed or when they would start flying.

The new police force adds to Chinese airline security measures that already have been tight since a rash of hijackings in the mid-1990s.

All baggage is X-rayed, passengers must show identification and security guards armed with axes reportedly fly on domestic airliners.

Despite such measures, China has suffered at least two hijackings in the past three years. In one case in 2000, state media said the hijacker was killed with his own knife in a fight with the crew.