The FBI is holding talks with Chinese officials on the security of the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympic Games, particularly in the area of global information sharing, said Thomas Fuentes, assistant director of the FBI’s Office of International Operations, who was attending a scheduled meeting with Chinese law enforcement officials in Beijing. Fuentes called it a massive challenge for the Chinese authorities to deal with and said, “we’re offering every possible assistance to them in terms of the information sharing or other technical assistance”. Other countries are offering security help for the event, which Fuentes said is expected to attract more than 200,000 people working during the Games, not including spectators or other tourists.
Chen Feng, vice director of the BOCOG Marketing Department, said Beijing 2008 will do its utmost to protect the rights and interests of the Games’ sponsors to ensure the success of the Games. He said, “BOCOG has attached great importance to the fight against ambush marketing because we promised to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to do so and because it is an important way to ensure successful Olympics in 2008. If we don’t prevent and fight ambush marketing, more and more interest-driven enterprises will join the ranks of ambush marketing companies, which will reduce the value of the Olympic brands and dampen the sponsors’ enthusiasm. The Olympic Movement will lose its financial support and this may imperil the 2008 Olympic Games”. Among the measures to be introduced are BOCOG upholding the exclusivity principle when dealing with and selecting the sponsor enterprises to avoid competition between enterprises of the same category; conducting marketing together with the Chinese Olympic Committee, the Hong Kong Olympic Committee and the Chinese Paralympic Committee so that competing enterprises are barred from taking part in different Olympic or Paralympic marketing programs; non-sponsor programs are not allowed to conduct publicity with overt Olympic content; Olympic related publicity is also banned for donors, licensed enterprises, sport equipment suppliers, and Olympic competition venue owners; and during the Games athletes will not be allowed to publicize non-Olympic sponsors, as the image of the athletes is closely linked to the Games.
The Beijing 2008 Games is expected to attract four billion viewers of TV relay around the globe, said Ma Guoli, Chief Operation Officer of Beijing Olympics Dissemination Corporation Ltd. He said the company will use about 65 High Definition relay vehicles and 1,00 video cameras, build a 80,000 square metre broadcasting centre and produce live TV signals of 3,800 hours in 2008. The company has signed a contract with 45 TV producers and more than 50 equipment suppliers from across the world.
