BEIJING - Following seven years of preparation, Beijing is able to honor its Olympic commitment to the international community, according to the city's Communist Party chief.
Fireworks explode over the National Stadium, also know as the Bird's Nest, during a rehearsal for the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games at the Olympic Green in Beijing, July 16, 2008. [Agencies]
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Liu Qi, also the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2008 Olympic Games (BOCOG) president, made the remark in an interview with the People's Daily, the Chinese Communist Party official newspaper.
He attributed the confidence to the strong leadership of the Party and the State Council, the support of Chinese both at home and abroad, and the aid from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the international community.
"As I said in my presentation to the IOC in 2001, the three concepts for the Beijing Olympic Games are Green Olympics, High-tech Olympics and People's Olympics. Our objective is to spread the Olympic spirit among people, especially the 400 million young people in China."
Liu said the city had put an emphasis on controlling air pollution and promoting landscape greening to fulfil the Green Olympics concept.
"For example, we had Shougang Steel Group relocate most operations to outside Beijing and reduce steel output at its Beijing plant. Also shut down was the Beijing Coking Factory and a chemical plant of Beijing Yanshan Petrochemical Group. As a result, more than 64 percent of the days in 2007 was of Grade II or better air quality."
He added Beijing's afforested land increased significantly. "We have so far fulfilled all the objectives of 'Green Olympics.'"
Liu said engineers and technicians had made a lot of innovations in the construction of Olympic venues such as the National Stadium and the Aquatic Center and that was an manifestation of "High-tech Olympics."
"To carry out the People's Olympics, we were people-oriented in designing and building venues, laying security facilities and arranging media services. We also advocated civilized behavior among citizens, organized Olympic-related cultural activities in schools and to absorb volunteers from all walks of life.
