1. 2008 Olympic Security Budget Ready for Approval
2. Beijing Holds Conference on 2008 Olympics Security
3. Million Dollar Donation for Education Program
4. Beijing Spikes Beach Volleyball from Tiananmen
5. Preparations for Beijing Olympics Advance Smoothly
6. Beijing to Have New Generation Taxies
7. 9 Potential Security Risks for Beijing Olympic Games
9. Beijing Official on Venue and Security
9. Beijing sets up Olympic Broadcasting Committee
1. 2008 Olympic Security Budget Ready for Approval, May 11, 2005, China Daily
"We have figured out the security budget for the 2008 Olympics, but it is subject to the government's approval," said Qiang Wei, deputy secretary of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China. But Qiang refused to reveal the budget amount, saying it will be unveiled "in a very short time."
Athens, hosting the first Olympic Games after the September 11 terrorist attack last year, spent more than USD 1.3 billion (Euros 1 billion) on security.
Qiang briefed reporters during the International Permanent Observatory on Security Measures During Major Events (IPO), where the closed-door meeting took place in the Chinese capital yesterday. Qiang is also head of the Beijing Olympic Security Co-ordination Group and said the total will be unveiled "in a very short time."
Twenty-four foreign security experts from 10 countries and four international organizations, including the United Nations Inter Regional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) and the European Police Office (EUROPOL), attended the IPO to share their experience of making security plans for such large events. These include previous Olympic Games, the 2004 European Football Cup and the 2003 Evian G8 Summit.
Set up by UNICRI and EUROPOL in February 2003, IPO aims to enhance the level of security during major events by promoting the identification of the best practices in the field. It also seeks to strengthen international co-operation and facilitate the exchange of information among international agencies, international entities and experts that are well versed in security. As the host city of the 2008 summer Olympic Games, the biggest sports event in the world, Beijing finds it necessary to learn more international successful security stories in some special occasions, such as the venue access, the transport security and bombs/explosive ordnance, Qiang said. "It is important for us to open for more experience while organizing the Olympic security plan," he said.
2. Beijing Holds Conference on 2008 Olympics Security, May 11, 2005, Xinhua News
Beijing will establish a special security center and an information center in 2008 to guarantee the security of the Olympic Games, said the source with the sixth closed conference of International Permanent Observe forum here on Tuesday.
The conference was held to discuss the security maintenance of international large-scale activities, in which the security of 2008 Beijing Olympics became one of the most important topics.
Lu Shimin, vice head of Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau, said Beijing will set up a security headquarters in every stadium and gymnasium of the 2008 Olympics, which are under the control of the security and information centers.
The official, who is also the head of security department of 2008 Olympics Organizing Committee, said Beijing has already started to give specialized counter-terrorist training to a batch of policemen.
More than 30 experts from 20 countries attended the conference, who also shared their experiences in security maintenance of the Olympics.
3. Million Dollar Donation for Education Program, May 16, 2005, BOCOG Online
IOC President Jacques Rogge and Raymond Goldsmith, Chairman and CEO of the company International Sports Multimedia (ISM), yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding related to a donation of USD 1 million that ISM is giving to the IOC for the development of an Olympic educational program targeted primarily at children and young people.
4. Beijing Spikes Beach Volleyball from Tiananmen, May 18, 2005, China Daily
Volleyballs, sand and bikinis will not appear on Tiananmen Square at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, despite the Chinese capital's pitch to hold beach volleyball events at the political heart of the city.
Beijing Olympic organizers proposed beach volleyball on the square while bidding for the Games in 2000, but later changed their minds.
No official announcement on the venue has been made, but a source from the organising committee told Reuters by telephone on Tuesday that the matches would be staged at Beijing's Chaoyang Park, a popular picnic and amusement site east of the main Games site, the Olympic Green.
"We think this site is especially suited for the beach volleyball event," Feng Qihua from the committee's media and communications department said without specifying reasons for the move.
Beijing has scaled back on some of the ambitious plans it presented in bidding to host 2008 Olympics and cut the budgets for venues like the "bird's nest" stadium, which will hold track and field events and the opening and closing ceremonies.
But by 2008, the city still plans to have spent USD 37 billion for the Games, including USD 2 billion on venues, USD 2 billion in operating costs, USD 24.2 billion on infrastructure and USD 7 billion on an environmental clean-up.
Chinese Olympic organizers have also proposed moving the 2008 equestrian competitions to Hong Kong for fear of potential risks of equine diseases in the capital.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has told Beijing to make sure such a move, opposed by the International Equestrian Federation, is necessary and a final decision is expected later this year.
5. Preparations for Beijing Olympics Advance Smoothly, May 16, 2005, Xinhua
Beijing's preparatory work for the 2008 Olympic Games is advancing smoothly, said a senior official of the municipal government at the sports round-table meeting of the Ninth Fortune Global Forum in Beijing on Monday.
Liu Jingmin, Beijing's vice mayor and also executive vice president of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2008 Olympic Games (BOCOG), said that more home and overseas enterprises have joined to be cooperative partners of the Beijing Olympics to secure the financial support.
Liu said that construction on the remaining new venues will all start this year and competition schedule for the 2008 Olympics and Paralympics is also under design.
He said that Beijing has completed the transportation strategic plan, established transport coordination and command mechanism, and begun building a transportation model for the games.
The BOCOG has signed agreements with 88 hotels, which will provide 22,962 hotel rooms and 31 villas for athletes and other participants. It has also designated 20 hospitals to provide medical services and checks of performance-enhancing drugs, Liu said.
Meanwhile, a security coordination group has also been set up, he added.
In terms of Olympic culture, Liu said that BOCOG has been soliciting good ideas worldwide about the slogan, mascot and torch relay.
Beijing has also devoted great efforts in building a technical system for the games, strengthening financial management, and protecting related intellectual property rights (IPR).
The sports round-table meeting held by the Fortune Global Forum this time is specifically targeted at the rapid development of China's sports industry and opportunities mushrooming during the process.
6. Beijing to Have New Generation Taxies, May 13, 2005, People's Daily Online
As the "city business card" taxies are a most directly perceived showcase of a city. As the capital of China Beijing will have new generation taxies by the year 2008 when the Olympics is held. By now fashionable and colorful taxies have appeared on the streets of Beijing. They bring with them not only convenience for the citizens but also improvement in the city's overall image. They have made contribution to bettering the appearance of Beijing. Several thousand Sonatas and Elantras are already running on the streets of Beijing.
The new taxies and most buses have already been using liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as fuel, which creates much less air pollution. The move contributes much to improving the atmospheric environment in Beijing and the safety of taxies.
On August 28 last year the Beijing municipal communications committee began to collect opinions on the exterior color of Beijing's taxies and finally decided that the China Beijing series with a modified yellow as basic color was the most welcome. Therefore the China Beijing series was chosen as the solution for updating taxi colors.
7. 9 Potential Security Risks for Beijing Olympic Games, May 12, 2005, People's Daily Online
There will be nine risky factors including fires and urban harassment in the security maintenance areas of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games said Lu Shimin, head of the security department of the Beijing Olympics Organizing Committee, at the sixth closed conference of the International Permanent Observation forum according to a report from the official website of the Beijing Olympics Organizing Committee, which is reported by the sportsonline with People.com.cn on May 11 in Beijing.
Lu Shimin says Beijing carried out the initial analysis on the risky factors concerning the security work when applying for hosting the Olympic Games and ascertained the nine risky areas including fire, illegally intruding upon the Olympic Games facilities, urban harassment, crimes, technological risk of the key service system of the Olympic Games, traffic safety, natural calamities, other calamities and terrorist activities as the risky ones of the Beijing Olympic Games security work. Lu Shimin says the department will keep on monitoring and controlling these factors.
There are more than 40,000 professional policemen working in the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau. They are divided into the specialized categories respectively in charge of public security, criminal investigation, fire control and traffic. In the security tasks of the international large-scale activities involving the 1990 Asian Games, the 1995 World Women's Conference and the 1999 Fortune Global Forum, the policemen took exercises fully. Lu Shimin adds that Beijing will further strengthen the exchanges with the international community in the field of the security work including the large-scale activities such as the Olympic Games while giving play to its own advantages in order to guarantee the security of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
8. Beijing Official on Venue and Security, May 20, 2005, CRI News
Wang Wei, BOCOG executive Vice-President, talked about venue construction and security.
During a CNN live show Thursday morning in Beijing, Wang Wei, executive Vice-President of the Beijing Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games, says construction of the Olympic venues is going smoothly.
To date, eight of the 14 new venues are under construction. Beijing is confident that the venues will all be in place on schedule.
Wang Wei says hosting the Olympics will provide the world with a good opportunity to understand more about China and its people.
The official also elaborated on Beijing's preparations on security, saying Beijing is ready to take on any challenges.
9. Beijing sets up Olympic Broadcasting Committee, May 18, 2005, China Daily
The Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2008 Olympic Games (BOCOG) set up a broadcasting coordination committee to ensure the successful broadcasting of the world's premier sporting event.
The BOCOG Olympic Broadcasting Committee, headed by BOCOG executive vice president Jiang Xiaoyu, is composed of representatives from concerned government departments, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Information Industry, the Customs, State Administration of Taxation and China Central Television.
"The committee will work with different government departments to formulate favorable policies for the Beijing Olympic Broadcasting Co. Ltd," said Jiang.
The Beijing Olympic Broadcasting Co. Ltd (BOB), a joint venture between the IOC Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) and BOCOG, will serve as the host broadcaster of the 2008 Olympics and 2008 Paralympics.
"As the Olympics is currently the most widely covered sporting event in the world, with the highest number of TV viewers, a successful broadcast is a prerequisite for staging a successful Olympics," added Jiang.
It is estimated that during the Beijing Olympics and Paralympics, more than 4 billion people will watch the games worldwide.
BOB will be in charge of producing international TV and radio signals for the Games and important side events, constructing and operating the International Broadcasting Center and other venues, and providing other relevant broadcasting services to the rights-holding broadcasters of the Games.