Senior Party Official Meets Nike Vice President

Jia Qinglin, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, met Thursday with Joseph Ha, vice president of the US Nike Inc. in charge of international affairs.

Jia, also secretary of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee, said that Beijing has been applied for the bid to host 2008 Olympic Games, and he hopes that Nike would support Beijing's bid.

He said that as a result of the support by Chinese government and people, Beijing now has been qualified as a contender for hosting the Olympics in 2008. However, the competition will be fierce because there still have four powerful competitors such as Paris and Osaka.

Jia promised that Beijing will, in accordance with 22 propositions given by the International Olympic Committee, make all efforts to apply for the bid.

Joseph Ha said that China has been a enormous market for Nike, the world largest manufacturer of sports equipment. His company will try its best to help Beijing's bid to host the 2008 Olympic games.



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