Olympic host China has set up armed guards at the Beijing airport as part of the intensified security for the upcoming 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, according to news reports on Saturday.

The guards grouped into two-member teams each armed with machine guns were deployed on Thursday at the Beijing Capital International Airport and will continue to patrol all three terminals until the end of the Summer Olympics in August. Also seen were Chinese police who were typically unarmed and some airport guards who were carrying pistols, according to Xinhua News.

The capital's airport, which recently opened its new terminal earlier this year in anticipation of the influx of around 5 million passengers for the coming Olympic Games, is expected to accommodate 76 million passengers a year. The new Terminal 3 which started construction on March 2004 has a floor space of 986,000 square meters, more than twice the total area of the first two terminals

Aside from the airport, police will also start inspecting Beijing subway passengers for guns, knives, explosives and flammables, as well as poisonous or radioactive materials on Sunday, Xinhua reported.

"Passengers who reject security checks or insist on carrying dangerous articles will be banned entry or exit and even punished by law,'' a spokesman for the Beijing subway was quoted as saying.

The security inspections will continue throughout the Olympic Games slated to begin on Aug. 8-24 and will also be implemented for the Paralympics which is scheduled to start on Sept. 6-17.