Beijing Confident but Clear-headed in Olympics BidAfter accepted as one of the five candidates, Beijing has decided to follow the Olympic motto of "faster, higher and stronger " to push forward its bid for the 2008 Games.Beijing, together with Istanbul, Osaka, Paris, and Toronto, was shortlisted for the 2008 Games by the International Olympic Committee(IOC) on Monday at Laussane, Switzerland. Beijing, widely held as the front-runner in the race, kept looking ahead as they decided to focus its attention on four major areas including ecological environment, traffic system, bid promotion and city image building. "We must step up our effort, for the bid rivals are all very competitive," said Liu Jingmin, the Executive Vice President of the Beijing 2008 Olympics Games Bid Committee, on Wednesday. "The candidate cities that have been designated are of different uniqueness, of tremendous strength and of high popularity. Having been accepted as a candidate city is just the first step in the long march," Liu told the press conference in a Beijing hotle. But encouraged by what the Chinese capital has achieved in many fields, Beijing did not conceal his optimism about the prospect. "Due to the solid foundation laid down in the first stage and Beijing's promising future, we are full of confidence about the success in the bid's second stage even though the rivals are very strong," said Liu. Liu's confidence was justified by Beijing's economic progress, increasingly adequate infrastructures and, in particular, the environmental protection. Beijing has left no stones unturned in addressing the beleaguering environmental problems, which culminated last week when the Action Plan for Green Olympics was launched. More than 20 non-governmental environmental groups gave Beijing's bid for the "Green Games" a boost by signing up to the action plan with the Bid Committee. The plan pledged that by the year of 2007 Beijing's ecological environment will be completely up to the standards set by IOC for hosting the quadrennial games. "By 2007 the solid waste will be harmlessly treated, ninety percent of the wastewater will be treated and the whole city will be having forty percent of its area covered with green," liu said of the environmental pollution, the biggest issue Beijing faces in its bid. Beijing, who lost to Syndey by a two-vote margin in the 1993 for the Olympic Games this year, promised that all its targets are within reach. "Judging from the great changes which have taken place in the past eight years, you will see no reason to distrust our promise in the next eight years," Liu said. |
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