China makes progress on Olympic bid

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Posted 7:15AM on Friday, July 12, 2002

BEIJING - Marking the one-year anniversary of its Olympic bid, China wants to make sure the message is clear: The 2008 Games will reflect a cosmopolitan nation capable of staging one of the world's showcase events. In a ceremony at the Great Hall of the People, the heart of the communist government, a daylong presentation updated the organizing committee's progress. ``We guarantee efficient preparation work to live up to the expectation of the whole nation,'' said Jia Qinglin, Beijing's municipal secretary. He promised ``the most outstanding Olympic Games with the highest level of quality.'' A year ago Saturday, central Beijing exploded in fireworks, song and bursts of flag-waving patriotism upon word that the city had won its bid. Beijing beat out Toronto; Paris; Istanbul, Turkey; and Osaka, Japan. Activists insisted the authoritarian government's harsh human rights policies should not be rewarded. While an Olympics is a boon for any nation, it is particularly important for China. The country has long equated sports and nationalism, and it has been hungry for international respect ever since it began opening to the world in the late 1970s. That sentiment is clear in the language used by public officials like Mayor Liu Qi, quoted Friday in the party's official People's Daily newspaper. ``No matter how many hardships we encounter, we can march forward courageously with unrelenting efforts to try to realize the goal of running the most outstanding Olympic Games in history and to leave a special legacy for China in world sports,'' Liu said. On Friday, he attended an event at the Great Hall of the People to release a coffee-table book celebrating the anniversary. ``China's Olympics: A Century-Old Dream Comes True'' chronicles the bidding process and is filled with glossy photos of the city and its jubilant supporters. Beijing has promised to build sports venues, subways and other facilities as well as improve water treatment and air pollution controls ahead of the games. It already has enough hotel rooms to accommodate an Olympics and plans to add 30,000 more by 2008. Liu said preparations have been smooth and ``will carry out China's policy of openness, thrift and transparency.'' Since it won the bid, China has made it clear that the Olympics are not merely a symbol of national prestige but a repository of the government's national ambitions to be a world player. From municipal government to the central leadership, many have called the Olympics China's chance to show the world that its experimental market-style system of ``socialism with Chinese characteristics'' is working - and that the country is developing on schedule. Promotional signs have gone up everywhere, from billboards to the rear windshields of virtually every Beijing taxi. The city's fast-paced building boom has been increased even further, and entire neighborhoods are being demolished so they can be renovated by 2008. The International Olympic Committee in April gave a resounding thumbs-up to Beijing's preparations, praising organizers for sticking ``very close'' to promises they during their bid. The IOC has deflected questions about how, or if, it will monitor China's human rights practices. In May, the Washington-based Free China Movement released what it said were documents proving that Jilin, a northeastern province, had ordered Olympics-related crackdowns on the Falun Gong spiritual group and all other dissent.