BANGKOK, November 7. /TASS/. Some 25,000 police officers will provide security for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, whose leadership meeting is scheduled for November 18 to 19 in Bangkok, the Royal Thai Police Deputy Chief Chinnapat Sarasin told the Bangkok Post.
According to him, some law enforcement officers will be stationed along the routes of summit participants' motorcades, while others will be deployed on the roofs of high-rise buildings to monitor the situation. In addition, a number of police officers will be on duty at hotels where the forum’s delegates will be residing. "The police are monitoring all political and insurgent groups," the newspaper quoted Sarasin as saying on Monday. He also urged the public to pay attention to any suspicious activity and alert law enforcement agencies.
APEC consists of 19 countries and two territories. They include its 12 founding members: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and the US. Other members are China (joined in 1991), Mexico and Papua New Guinea (1993), Chile (1994), Russia, Vietnam and Peru (1998). In 1991, two Chinese territories joined APEC: Hong Kong and Taiwan. Thailand took over the presidency of the organization from New Zealand and will hand it over to the US.