More than 6,000 police officers and troops will be deployed in and around the Beijing Workers' Stadium Saturday to ensure public order during the Asian Cup final.

The South China Morning Post reports that local and Japanese football fans will be confined to separate stands during the match. In China, emotions still run high over Japanese military aggression during World War Two.

Tickets to the final have almost sold out with only a handful, priced at 2,000 yuan (US$240) apiece, still available on Thursday.

Scalpers queued in front of the stadium after this week's semifinals to purchase the lower-priced tickets. There are fears that fans may not have access to enough affordable tickets, which could lead to trouble on the day of the event.

The General Administration of Sport dispatched officials to the Chinese squad this week, asking them to respect the Japanese footballers and not to overreact on the field on Saturday. The Chinese Football Association has expressed the belief that most fans will respect the visiting team, although there is a possibility that some fans may not be so polite.

Meanwhile, the Foreign Ministry has lodged a complaint with the Japanese embassy over a Japanese Football Association mistake concerning Taiwan.

The official Xinhua News Agency reports that Japanese brochures for the event contained a map of Asia on which the Chinese mainland and Taiwan were marked in different colors. Japan agreed to recall the brochures.

(CRI August 6, 2004)