In remarks appearing on the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, Public Security Minister Zhou Yongkang said China would seek closer cooperation with other nations in dealing with the threat.

"Although the general security situation for the Beijing Olympics remains stable, we still face the challenges of terrorism, separatism and extremism," Zhou was quoted by the state-run China Daily newspaper as saying.

"Terrorism in particular poses the biggest threat," Zhou told a security conference in Beijing on yesterday, the paper said.

Safeguarding the Olympics has been one of the biggest costs and concerns for cities hosting the games in recent years. Greek officials spent a record $1.4 billion on security for the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Experts say the terrorist threat to the Aug. 8-24, 2008, Olympics is relatively low, but they warn that Beijing faces a growing threat from Islamic separatists among the Uighur population in the western region of Xinjiang.

However, only one or two terrorist groups are capable of attacks in northeast Asia, and their ability to operate within China's tightly controlled society is very limited, said Rohan Gunaratna, author of "Inside al-Qaida — Global Network of Terror."

"The threat (to the Beijing Olympics) is medium to low. The threat from the outside is very low," said Gunaratna, who is based in Singapore.

He warned, however, that China's counterterrorism capabilities remain relatively weak, especially in its understanding of groups based outside its borders. "I expect they'll improve a lot before the Olympics," he said.

China has not joined military operations in Iraq or Afghanistan, and has not so far been a target of al-Qaida or other Islamic terror groups.

It recently appointed a special envoy to focus on Middle Eastern conflicts, but Beijing's involvement in the region has mainly been limited to economic contacts and calls for a negotiated settlement to the Palestinian question.

Although Uighur separatists have launched occasional bombings and assassinations, the last serious incidents were a decade ago.

In a rare publicized action earlier this year, China said it raided a terror camp in Xinjiang run by the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, or ETIM, killing 18 militants it says had links to al-Qaida and the Taliban.

The Sept. 11 attacks helped dilute U.S. and other foreign criticisms of China's heavy-handed tactics toward ethnic separatists it accuses of terrorism.

However, Gunaratna said the ETIM remained dangerous and was developing stronger links with al-Qaida, changing it from an essentially Uighur nationalist group to one espousing a pan-Islamic ideology. ETIM trains in Pakistan's remote tribal areas and has been spreading its message on the Internet.

Gunaratna estimated the group represents the views of less than 1 percent of China's approximately 50 million Muslims. But he warned that China needed to avoid alienating mainstream Uighurs by improving education and job options and showing more sensitivity to their ethnic concerns.

Interpol said yesterday it would help China with security by sending a "major events support team" to the Olympics that will have quick access to Interpol files on fingerprints, images and "wanted persons notices."

Interpol will also provide "threat assessments" on issues relating to Olympic security and international crime, the organization said.

Liu Jing, a vice minister for public security, told the meeting in Beijing that China hopes all 135 cities on the Olympic torch relay route will also help safeguard that event, the China Daily said. Liu was quoted as saying that some organizations and individuals were trying to politicize the games and planned to disrupt the relay.

In one indication of discord, Taiwanese media reported that China has insisted Taiwan's national flag and official emblem do not show up along a proposed 15-mile torch route in Taipei. China claims Taiwan as its territory, and objects to all symbols of sovereignty by the democratic, self-ruling island.

Mia Farrow, a U.N. goodwill ambassador, has labeled the Beijing Games the "genocide Olympics," and has launched her own torch relay through countries with histories of mass atrocities. The actress says China has impeded a solution to deadly ethnic conflicts in Sudan's Darfur region because of its oil interests in that country.