| Press briefing on 2008 Olympic Games | ||||
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| 2007-10-19 00:00 | ||||
BEIJING, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- The blue bright sky Beijing enjoyed over the past days had been mistaken by some foreign journalists as "a result of government intervention" to polish the city's image while a significant congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) was going on. Beijing Vice Major Liu Jingmin, a delegate to the five-yearly Party congress, said at a news conference on Friday it actually was the wind coming down from the north that cleaned the air in the host city of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. "Frankly speaking, we didn't take any measures. It's the weather that played the role," he said. But with a longer view of the city's environment and air quality, the improvement is explicit. In 2006, Beijing registered 240 "blue sky" days, or days with fairly good air quality, a rise of 64 days from the previous year. In September "blue sky" days totaled 25, setting a record high in seven years, the latest figures from local environment authorities revealed. Liu, also executive vice president of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2008 Olympic Games, said Beijing would materialize its promise of "Green Olympics" by not only improving the city's ecology and environment, but also adopting a "green", environment-friendly, approach to manage city affairs. In one move, the municipal government has called on local residents to take public transport more instead of driving private cars through axing bus and subway fares, hoping to reduce the pollution from automobile exhaust. Citizens who possess vehicles such as motorcycles, passenger cars, sedans and trucks have been taxed more as of Oct. 1, with the rates ranging from 200 yuan (26.7 U.S. dollars) to 600 yuan (80 U.S. dollars) a year, almost doubling the sums before the change. Liu said that renewable energy has been widely used in the of Olympic projects. For instance, the residences of athletes in the Olympic Village will be installed with special heating and refrigerating facilities powered by energy tapped from a neighboring sewage disposal plant. Photovoltaic technology based on solar energy is widely used in the competition venues. And the city's first wind power plant has been set up in the north. Liu said that the International Olympic Committee will launch regular inspections to verify whether the city has honored its commitments for a "Green Olympiad". Over the past several years, the city has moved 167 pollutive factories to the suburbs or remoter areas. At the same time of the removal, they have undergone technical innovations, Liu said. The city used to have 16,000 coal-consuming boilers, which spewed a large amount of dust and carbon monoxide. Now 15,000 of them have been upgraded to use clean energy forms. Liu said that even restaurants, hotels and sponsors for the 2008 Olympics have been required to sign letters of commitment on environmental protection and energy conservation. The government also encourages the audience to take public transport or ride bicycles to competition venues, and the buses must meet environmental standards. To remedy its clogging traffic, the city is considering traffic restrictions during the period of Olympics, in which vehicles with even- and odd-numbered license plates, excluding taxis, buses and emergency vehicles, will be told to stay off the roads on alternate dates. During a four-day test of the traffic ban between Aug. 17 and 20, about 1.3 million cars were barred from the city roads each day and the amount of pollutants discharged was cut by 5,815.2 tons, figures from local authorities revealed.
BEIJING, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- China has drawn up some new regulations for the 2008 Olympic Games as supplements for the law, Liu Jingmin, executive vice president of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2008 Olympic Games, said here Friday. "The existing legal system meets the requirement of the Games on the whole, so we just draw up some regulations," said Liu on the sidelines of the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC). "Regulations on Reporting Activities in China by Foreign Journalists during the Beijing Olympic Games and the Preparatory Period" went into effect at the beginning of this year, giving foreign journalists more freedom in reporting in China. China has also enacted regulations to protect the use of Olympic signs and the intellectual property rights of Olympic products, Liu said. There are also local regulations in some parts of China, he said.
BEIJING, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Beijing's preparations for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games won't be affected even if there were any personnel change in the organizing body, an official in charge of the Beijing event said on Friday. "First and foremost, I'm still not aware of any potential personnel change within the BOCOG," said Beijing's vice mayor Liu Jingmin, referring to the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2008 Olympic Games. Liu, executive vice president of the committee, said it has formed a "stable leadership mechanism" in the past few years of preparation. "Its leaders have played a positive role," he told journalists on the sidelines of the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. "Everything is going on as planned," Liu said.
Beijing official: Olympic preparations boost human rights development BEIJING, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- China's preparations for the 2008 Summer Olympics have boosted the country's human rights development and improved the welfare of the people, an official in charge of the Games' organization said on Friday. The quality of the lives and environment of the Chinese people, Beijingers in particular, have been improved tremendously during the preparation process, said Liu Jingmin, vice-mayor of Beijing and executive vice-president of the Beijing Olympics organizing committee. "We've also involved people from all walks of life in our preparations of the Games, and solicited their ideas in designing the Beijing Olympic emblem, mascots, theme and venues," Liu said at a press briefing on the sideline of the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. A comprehensive survey is held every six months to adjust and improve the organizers' work at public's will and suggestion, he said. "To honor our commitments to the International Olympic Committee, we've also issued regulations to open the Games and its preparations to foreign journalists," Liu said. "Preparations for the Games have been going along with China's development, and the rights of the people have been protected and improved in this process," he added.
Vice mayor: Olympics creates 600,000 jobs annually in Beijing BEIJING, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- The coming Olympics created 600,000 jobs every year since the preparations started in 2001, a senior official with the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2008Olympic Games (BOCOG) said here Friday. Liu Jingmin, vice mayor of Beijing and executive vice president of the BOCOG, said at a press briefing that Beijing has benefited from preparations for the coming Games, which is scheduled to open on Aug. 8, 2008. In the past five years, Liu said, the annual increase of gross domestic product (GDP) in Beijing reached 12.1 percent averagely, with the amount last year at 770 billion yuan (102.7 billion U.S. dollars) and the per capita figure at 6,300 U.S. dollars. Beijing also saw 3.9 million overseas tourist arrivals in 2006,one million more than that in 2001, Liu said Meanwhile, the coming Olympics helped Beijing improve its urban planning and better transport networks, he said.
BEIJING, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Beijing, host city of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, is building more handicapped accessible facilities ahead of the Games, an organizer of the event said on Friday. The city is renovating more than 1,000 public facilities a year for easier access of wheelchairs, said Liu Jingmin, vice-mayor of Beijing and executive vice-president of the Beijing Olympics Organizing Committee. "All Beijing's star-level hotels and more than 40 hospitals are handicapped accessible," he told reporters on the sidelines of the17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. Beijing's Olympic facilities also include a new terminal building at the Capital International Airport and a more comprehensive subway network, which will extend to the Olympic village and the airport in time for the Beijing Games, said Liu. Beijing's No. 5 subway line, running through the heart of the city from north to south, was inaugurated on Oct. 7 to boost public transport and ease road congestion ahead of the Olympics. All the new routes employ wheelchair accessible cars. The city promised last month it would put more handicapped accessible buses into service and replace all subway cars running on its two downtown routes with new ones in an effort to improve public transport facilities for the Olympics.
BEIJING, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- The appreciation of Yuan and the heightened tasks in security management have driven up Beijing's Olympics budget from 1.6 billion U.S. dollars to 2 billion U.S. dollars, Liu Jingmin, executive vice president of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2008 Olympic Games, said here on Friday. The figure still stays short of the 2.4-billion-USD budget for the Athens Olympics in 2004, he noted, adding that the committee would make a second revision of the budget in line with needs
Senior official: 20,000 Olympic torch bearers to be chosen globally BEIJING, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- A senior official with the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2008 Olympic Games (BOCOG) said here Friday that more than 20,000 torch bearers are to be chosen around the world. Liu Jingmin, executive vice chairman of the BOCOG, said at a press conference that preparations for the Olympic torch relay both in China and the rest of the world are going on smoothly. The number of torch bearers would be 21,880 for the 137,000 km torch relay, the organizing committee revealed previously. Specifically, the torch will be relayed to the Mount Qomolangma. Liu said he saw no problem for Chinese mountaineers to scale the world's summit for the torch relay, noting Chinese athletes have advantages in mountaineering, a sport that has more than 40 years of history in China. "Many Chinese athletes, men and women, have climbed up the mount. Some reached the peak more than once," he said. There are two ways of becoming a torch bearer, Jiang Xiaoyu, executive vice president of the BOCOG, said earlier. The first one is through recommendations by various institutions, and other is an open process in which public recommendations are accepted. In addition, 5,000 escort runners will be selected on the Chinese mainland exclusively for the relay.
BEIJING, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Liu Jingmin, executive vice president of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2008 Olympic Games (BOCOG), said here Friday political issues should not be associated with the Olympic Games. "All the political issues that have nothing to do with the Olympics shall not be associated with the Beijing Games. The attempt to boycott the Beijing Games for such excuses is improper and unpopular," said Liu. Liu made the remarks when answering a question on the boycott attempt by some people at a press conference on the sidelines of the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC). "As the organizer of the 2008 Olympic Games, we advocate the Olympic spirit and carry forward the guidelines of peace, friendship and development. We want the Games to be the world's gathering of peace and friendship," he said. Beijing Olympic organizers believe the Games would greatly improve understanding and friendship between Chinese people and people in the rest of the world, Liu added. Chinese President Hu Jintao said on Monday "we will ... ensure the success of the 2008 Olympic Games" while delivering a report that charters the roadmap for China in the years to come.
Vice Beijing Mayor: All Olympic venues, except landmark Bird's Nest, to be accomplished this year BEIJING, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Construction of the National Stadium where the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympics is to be held will be accomplished next March and all the other venues are to be completed by the end of this year, an organizing committee official said Friday. So far, 27 of the 37 venues have already been completed, Liu, vice mayor of Beijing and executive deputy chairman of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2008 Olympic Games (BOCOG) said on the sidelines of the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.
BEIJING, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- The programs for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Olympic Games have been finalized while rehearsals are underway, said Liu Jingmin, executive vice president of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2008 Olympic Games (BOCOG), here on Friday.
Olympic swimming venue financed by overseas Chinese
Liu Jingmin, executive vice president of the Beijing Organizing Committee of the 2008 Olympic Games (BOCOG), said at a press briefing that 830 million yuan (110.7 million U.S. dollars) of investment has arrived for the construction of the glittering National Aquatics Center, nicknamed Water Cubic. Liu said the organizing committee hoped to further cooperate with overseas Chinese in the preparation of the Games. According to Liu, there are roughly 60 million overseas Chinese around the world, who he said could do more for the Games that is scheduled to open on Aug. 8, 2008. Source: www.chinaview.cn |
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