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1. Seven years on, Beijing moves to fulfill Olympic promises
BEIJING, July 13 (Xinhua) -- In a way, the Olympics have helped Beijing resident Guo Suying, 72, get rid of the irritating gasoline smell from a nearby filling station.
"This summer, we can open the window any time without fearing that the house would be filled with the smell," said Guo, who lives in Haidian District.
The change reflects a large-scale project involving the reclamation of emissions at gas stations across the capital, part of the Olympic host's efforts to improve air quality.
The city's 1,265 gas stations, 38 oil storehouses and 1,026 oil tank trucks completed an emission reclamation project during the past 13 months, said Li Kunsheng, a Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau official.
That's only a tiny part of the capital's progress in keeping the commitments it made seven years ago, when it won the bid for the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Beijing Shougang Group, one of China's leading steel makers and the city's major polluter, has extinguished the fire in three of its four blast furnaces at its Beijing plants.
The plants have slashed monthly production to 200,000 tonnes in the third quarter, said group president Zhu Jimin. "This is about 29 percent of our normal output."
Air quality is a major concern for participants in the Aug. 8-24 Games. The municipal authorities have also made it a priority to reduce pollution over the past decade, investing about 120 billion yuan (17 billion U.S. dollars) in the effort.
Measures such as the closure and removal of small polluting factories, the transformation of residential heating from coal to electricity, and stricter vehicle exhaust standards, have already done much to improve the capital's air quality.
For example, the number of "blue sky" days in the city -- an indicator of air quality -- increased to 246 last year from 100 in1998.
To realize the "green" Olympics, the capital's afforested land increased by 10,000 hectares and meadowland by 4,653 ha from 2001 to 2007, according to Wang Sumei, a municipal official in charge of landscape engineering.
Du Shaozhong, the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau's deputy director, said to ensure good air quality during the Games, neighboring regions such as Tianjin and Hebei will control dust, vehicle exhaust and industrial pollution prior to and during the sports event.
CLEARING THE ROADS
Beijing has promised that traffic conditions will meet the demands of the Games, with the construction of roads and subways and upgrading of transport facilities.
The terminal building for Olympic charter flights was opened on July 8 at the Beijing Capital International Airport.
The terminal, with 12 gates, is part of Terminal 3, a major expansion for the airport as it prepared for a passenger surge during the Olympics.
With Terminal 3's opening on Feb. 29, the airport can handle up to 76 million passengers annually, more than double the previous capacity. The airport is expected to receive about 5.56 million people during the Games in August.
Meanwhile, subway lines 5, 10, the Olympic line and a 28-km light rail linking the downtown with the airport are all to be in operation before the Games. It will only take 16 minutes to travel from downtown to the airport by light rail, compared with the current one-hour trip by road.
Source: Xinhua (www.chinaview.cn)
Extended Reading
1A．Special report: 2008 Olympic Games
http://www.chinaview.cn/08olympics/index.htm
2. Security beefed up in Beijing to ensure safe Olympics
BEIJING, July 13 (Xinhua) -- With the Olympics just around the corner, final preparations are under way here and in surrounding areas to deal with possible threats, including terrorism.
Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping said on Saturday that security should be the top priority when providing service for guests coming to the Games.
"It's necessary to carry out an exercise on the whole process of services for the arrival, departure, room and board of our Olympic guests, discover the loopholes and problems in each area and make relevant adjustments," he told the press during an inspection tour of a new rail link connecting Beijing Capital International Airport with downtown.
Xi's call came just a day after the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau offered handsome rewards for information on major security threats during the Olympic Games.
To "mobilize the enthusiasm of the masses in maintaining public security, as well as to control and eliminate hidden dangers to the Olympic Games," residents who report substantial information on major threats from July 10 to Oct. 31 would get rewards of 10,000 yuan (about 1,460 U.S. dollars) to 500,000 yuan.
Land forces of the People's Liberation Army based in Beijing and three neighboring military area commands would help to safeguard the Games, according to Tian Yixiang, an official with the Security Command Center for the Games of the 29th Olympiad.
The host cities had also planned to set up a no-fly zone, prohibited and restricted areas near the competing venues at sea.
Potential airborne threats would be warned and intercepted, according to Tian.
Before any event at sea started, frogmen would conduct underwater inspections, he said.
The deputy director of the Beijing municipal fire bureau, Luo Yuan, told the Beijing News on Saturday that fire fighters in the city were for the first time asked to deal with terrorist attacks and emergencies.
The fire fighters could be called on to help deal with terrorists who used nuclear or chemical weapons and explosives, he said.
The bureau had also organized 46 counter-terrorist drills in Olympic venues and subway stations, he noted.
But preventing terrorism was only part of the job. Cheng Guangmin, a senior officer of the Beijing fire general brigade, said the city had developed a four-step plan to bring fires under control within 10 minutes, according to the Beijing News.
Firemen near the Olympic venues were supposed to reach the scene within one minute, and fixed extinguishing facilities should be in use within three minutes, he said.
Fire engines close the Olympic venues should be mobilized within 10 minutes to extinguish any fire, he said.
Beijing residents also felt the presence of Olympic security measures as the city launched subway security checks on passengers late last month.
At major intersections, armed police are on alert. They are assisted by community volunteers wearing red armbands identifying them as members of the Olympics safety patrol.
The one month run-up to the Games also witnessed the Olympic host city gearing up security forces to sweep 90 sports venues, 110 Olympic contracted hotels, 700 km of sports tracks, the Olympic athletes' village and 2,000 sites for Olympic-themed activities, to eliminate any security loopholes.
An anti-terrorist force of nearly 100,000 commandos, police and troops is on high alert, according to sources with the Security Command Center.
Source: Xinhua (www.chinaview.cn)
Extended Reading
2A. Beijing to adjust working hours for Olympics
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-07/13/content_8539274.htm
2B. Beijing steel maker cuts output, pollution by 70% for Olympics
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-07/11/content_8529143.htm
2C. Dog meat off the menu for Beijing Olympics
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-07/11/content_8528919.htm
2D. Beijing in final preparation for Olympics
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-07/11/content_8528605.htm
3. China sets new subsidy plan for May 12 quake survivors
BEIJING, July 12 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese government will modify its temporary subsidy plan for quake survivors starting in September, with each survivor experiencing financial hardship to get 200 yuan (29 U.S. dollars) per month, a State Council statement said on Saturday.
"Life in most parts of the area will return to normal by September but, in some worst-hit areas, some people might still suffer difficulties. To help them, the government decided to continue financial assistance after the present policy ends," said the statement issued after a cabinet meeting presided over by Premier Wen Jiabao.
The quake, on May 12, left millions of people homeless and destitute.
The policy will cover such categories as orphans, the elderly and the disabled without family support, those whose relatives were killed or severely injured, those who were displaced and those whose residences were destroyed, it said.
Since the disaster, every needy survivor has been eligible to receive 10 yuan and 500 grams of food a day. The policy has covered about 8.82 million people but will end in August. The new system won't include any food allotment.
Some types of survivors could receive more than the minimum. Under the present policy, about 261,000 orphans, elderly and disabled without family support have received 600 yuan a month. Under the new policy, they will receive more than 200 yuan, the statement said, without elaborating.
The new policy will expire in November, the statement said.
The meeting heard a report by an experts' committee on the Wenchuan County-centered quake and ordered it to keep monitoring aftershocks in the quake zone for another two months.
The panel was also told to forecast areas that might be affected by major secondary disasters and evaluate possible losses to help reconstruction. The experts were also told to locate sites where quake debris can be stored for long periods for later investigation and take measures to protect such sites.
The meeting endorsed an assessment report by central and provincial authorities, which listed 10 counties and cities, including Wenchuan County, Beichuan County and Dujiangyan City, as the worst-hit areas.
Another 41 counties, cities and districts were characterized as heavily affected and other 186 were said to be moderately affected.
The first two categories will be covered by the national reconstruction plan, it said.
The 8.0-magnitude quake has claimed nearly 70,000 lives, injured more than 374,000 people and left another 18,340 missing.
Source: Xinhua (www.chinaview.cn)
Extended Reading
3A．Medical service to be restored in China quake zone by end-July
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-07/10/content_8525279.htm
3B．China issues guidelines on post-quake reconstruction
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-07/04/content_8491515.htm
4. Torrential rain kills one, affects 360,000 in S China
NANNING, July 13 (Xinhua) -- Torrential rain has been slamming south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region since Friday, leaving a three-year-old girl dead and more than 364,700 people affected.
The rain demolished 500 rooms and destroyed crops on 18,812 hectares in the cities of Beihai, Hechi and Laibin, causing a direct economic loss of 85.86 million yuan (12.3 million U.S. dollars), said a spokesman for the regional flood control headquarters.
The rain may also lead to a crop failure of about 14,170 tonnes of grain, the spokesman said.
In addition, three industrial and mining enterprises suspended operation and three highways were damaged because of the rain.
Meteorological experts in Guangxi predicted the torrential rain would continue for the coming two days.
Source: Xinhua (www.chinaview.cn)
5. Roundup: British experts call for balaced views on China
LONDON, July 12 (Xinhua) -- British experts and scholars held a heated public debate here Saturday on some key issues of China's recent development and called for a balanced portrayal of China.
The one-day debate, dubbed "Battle for China," was organized by the Institute of Ideas and drew a full house of some 300 participants from all walks of life.
The debate had eight sessions covering topics ranging from the impact of China's development on the rest of the world and its implications, China's environmental and human rights concerns, intellectual renaissance and the country's role in the new world order.
In the session on whether China's growth is a threat or opportunity to the West, Hugo de Burgh, director of China Media Center at the University of Westminster, said that Westerners tend to evaluate China by proceeding from their own their interests in the country.
"Some people want to sell western democracy to China, some want to make money," he said.
A Malaysian woman from the audience said "China's neighboring countries all view China as an inspiration and cooperate with it. I can't understand why the West should fear for China."
Frank Furedi, professor of sociology at the University of Kent noted the "moral illiteracy in the West about China's problems," saying pressurizing China on many issues is "unhelpful."
China and the West have different cultures, but they share some common values, he added.
On human rights, Brendan O'Neill, organizer of the Beijing 2008-- Challenging China-Bashing Campaign, said the Western countries should not apply double standards in dealing with China's human rights issue.
During the session on environment, Lu Yiyi, research fellow from the China Policy Institute at the University of Nottingham, made a frank statement about water and air pollution faced by China now and briefed the audience on the Scientific Outlook on Development advocated by the Chinese government to address the problem.
Lu's views on China's environmental challenges were shared by three British experts, who described these as issues in the course of the economic growth just like what the British experienced during the industrialization.
They will be resolved with economic prosperity and technology advancement, they said.
As for China's role in the new world order, Philip Cunliffe, a scholar on international relations, suggested that as Chinese people become richer and have more oversea tours, Mandarin might become a global language just as French or Spanish. This is especially true given the fact that China now has the world's largest number of internet surfers.
He also warned that along with China's rise, there will be more friction between China and the West. Any issue, however trivial it seems in China, might be played up out of proportion in the West. But he said that the West should not impose its values on China.
Bill Durodie, associate fellow from the Chatham House, defended China's role in Africa.
China's investment is well-intentioned and the Chinese always get things done and pay promptly," he said.
China is a developing country with "no strings attached to" its aid and investment in Africa, he added.
"Battle for China" debate is part of China Now, a six-month celebration of Chinese culture in Britain in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics. The Institute of Ideas, organizer of the annual debates, will run another forum on emerging economies this year. Source: Xinhua (www.chinaview.cn)
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