Olympicwatch
Beijing airport tests third runway * Terrorism biggest threat to Chinese Olympics * Fatal flaw in police radios * Cultural visits limit * Sex scandal report * Chinese police told to improve manners * IOC pleased with Beijing progress * Beijing traffic curbs * Is Beijing dangerous to athletes' health?
As part of gearing up for the Olympics, Beijing's Capital International Airport successfully tested the simultaneous use of three runways on Tuesday 25th September, the first operation of its kind in Asian aviation history. Arrival and departure capacity will be increased from 80 flights to 105 to 115 flights per hour when the third terminal goes into operation in February of next year, said BCIA controlling office director Yang Fei.
Terrorism poses the biggest threat to the holding of a successful Beijing Olympic Games, Chinese Minister of Public Security Zhou Yongkang said on Monday 10th September and called for closer international collaboration on information sharing and risk analysis. He made the remarks at the International Conference on Security Cooperation for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, which would see the participation of more than 140 representatives from 32 countries and regions, and international organizations such as Interpol and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
Writing in Contingency Today (see lead article) Chair of the 7 July Review (London Resilience) Committee, Richard Barnes, warns of problems with the Airwave project to equip the Metropolitan Police Authority with an upgraded communication capabilty. In a metropolitan district, strewn with buildings, police officers travel in vehicles with a fatal flaw. Mr Barnes said the Olympics "secure by design" must be established as a guiding principle from the outset.
Beijing will restrict the number of daily visits to cultural relics during the Olympic Games next year in order to ensure orderly visits and protect cultural relics, according to the Beijing Cultural Heritage Administration. "All cultural relics in Beijing will undergo a thorough "facelift" before next August, and any renovation, except for emergency repair, will suspended during the Games," said Kong Fanzhi, director of the administration. Kong said the "facelift" includes exterior renovations of ancient constructions and roofs that are visible from adjacent streets. This will to enable visitors, especially foreign tourists, to "see Beijing through cultural relics".
Chinese anti-graft investigators have found that 90 percent of the country's most senior officials brought down in corruption cases in recent years had kept mistresses, drawing a link between sex and misconduct in a report released on 3rd September. Among them were former Beijing vice-mayor, Liu Zhihua, fired for taking bribes and helping his mistress "seek profit" while in charge of Olympic venue construction. Beijing News
Chinese police officers are in the spotlight following the launch on Saturday 1st September of a nationwide campaign to improve their behavior ahead of next year's Olympics. Spearheaded by the Ministry of Public Security, the campaign will assess the behavior of on-duty officers, particularly those working in public areas and policing large-scale events. "Police inspectors, both uniformed and plainclothes, will monitor mostly community, traffic and patrol police, to see how they behave when people ask them for help," the ministry's spokesman Wu Heping, said. In addition, operators of the police hotline, station officers and those responding to incidents will be closely watched to ensure they have a positive attitude, do not neglect their duties and provide proper and effective help, Wu said. The campaign, which aims to improve discipline and regulate law enforcement procedures, was launched concurrently in the six cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Qingdao, Shenyang, Tianjin and Qinhuangdao that will co-host Olympic events. www.china.org.cn
An IOC group, led by Hein Verbruggen - the Chairman of the IOC's Coordination Commission for the Beijing Games, completed on the 28th August a two-and-a-half weeks of observations of the Good Luck Beijing Sports Events in order to gauge the state of planning and preparations ahead of next year's Games. Tthe IOC delegation was pleased with the progress that has been made in Games preparations by the Beijing 2008 Organising Committe. www.china.org.cn
Beijing will set aside special road lanes and some trunk lines totaling 200 km for the 2008 Olympics which will take place a year from now. Yu Chunquan, deputy chief of the BOCOG traffic administration bureau, said these lanes will cover parts of the second, fourth and fifth ring roads of Beijing and some trunk lines, Tuesday's Beijing Morning Post reported. While admitting the plan will have an impact on regular traffic during the Olympics, which open a year from today, Yu said more public transportation would be provided.He said the authorities were considering increasing the number of buses, opening new routes and extending the operating times of both buses and the subway. Yu said the details of how the restrictions will be applied were yet to be decided, but could involve selecting vehicles by their number plates or restricting car parking. Beijing has a population of about 15 million and is home to more than 3 million cars.
Is Beijing dangerous to athletes' health? With the prospect of athletes running marathons and cycling in Beijing's smog and pollution-laden air, environmentalists and experts in sports medicine are concerned about the health risks associated with the Olympic Games in China.The Beijing smog feeds on itself. Whenever the city periodically disappears into a brownish-yellow haze, the traffic only gets worse. Those who are fortunate enough to own a car leave their bicycles at home, choosing air-conditioning over the unfiltered cocktail of coal smoke, particulate matter and ozone in the air. Der Spiegel
