The heightened security campaign in Beijing started Wednesday with standards as stringent as those during the Olympic Games last year, the official Xinhua News Agency and state-run China Daily reported.

"The success of the celebration ceremony will rest largely on its safety," Ma Zhenchun, director of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau, told a rally Tuesday, 100 days before the 60th anniversary of modern China's founding, according to Xinhua.

On Tuesday, 3,000 uniformed police and firefighters gathered at a Beijing sports center to take an oath to ensure the safety of the National Day celebrations, the China Daily said.

In addition, 300,000 volunteers and 220,000 guards will be deployed, Xinhua said.

Yang Huanning, vice minister of public security, told the rally there were serious threats to the public and that security had been undermined by the global economic downturn, although he did not elaborate, the English-language newspaper reported.

Ma said his office would use lessons learned during the relatively peaceful Beijing Olympics. He said the 18 districts and counties in Beijing have started making efforts to maintain social order.

"Vigilant guard around Tiananmen Square at that time will absolutely be harsher than early this month," Wu Shufa, head of the square's security operations, was quoted as saying in the newspaper.

The square at the center of Beijing was flooded with security personnel before and during the 20th anniversary of the bloody crackdown on June 4 pro-democracy protests.