BEIJING, May 28 (Reuters) - China's police need more advanced equipment and want the authorities to step up investment in particular ahead of next year's Beijing Olympics, a senior official said on Monday.

China has vowed to put on an incident-free Olympic Games, despite fears that they might be upstaged by protests or violence on the sidelines.

"As the Beijing Olympics approach, investment in public security equipment is gradually rising to ensure the Games' security," Mao Fujin, deputy head of the Ministry of Public Security's procurement department, told a news conference.

He added that, while police along China's prosperous eastern seaboard were well-equipped, that was not so in the poorer west.

"In eastern China the police have somewhat advanced international-standard equipment," Mao said. "Of course, in some provinces in the east there is still a definite gap with developed countries.

"We must work harder and get more support from the central government," he added. "The police need more and different kinds of equipment to maintain social stability and people's security, and more investment in this area."

But he declined to say if a lack of equipment was hampering law-enforcement efforts in the west, where the police have previously said there are problems with drug-running, illegal weapons production and violence.

Social unrest -- fuelled by corruption, illegal land grabs and a rising gap between rich and poor -- is challenging the ruling Communist Party's efforts to maintain stability and its grip on power.

Official figures show the number of "mass incidents" -- a euphemism for protests and riots -- reached 23,000 in 2006, compared to about 10,000 in 1994.

AlertNet news is provided by