China has signed a protocol on sports cooperation with France and the Netherlands.
The protocol, signed by the director of the Chinese Sport General Administration and France’s sports minister, would allow the two countries to exchange visits and share information on about 20 sports, including cycling, equestrian, fencing, Taekwondo and skiing for 2003-2004.
Yuan Weimin, director of the Chinese Sport General Administration said, “some events in China, including equestrian and track and field, are not fully developed. We hope they will be reinforced through the sports exchanges”.
Jean-Francois Lamour, France’s sports minister and a fencing winner at the Seoul Olympics, said France, who is bidding for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, would likely learn from China in bidding for the Olympic Games.
Earlier, Li Zhijian, assistant director of the State Sports General Administration, signed a similar project on sports cooperation with the Netherlands.
Meanwhile, Beijing will replace coal with natural gas as the major energy source for heating and power generation by the 2008 Games. The central government has approved a group of electricity-generating projects fueled by natural gas, not coal, to ensure cleaner and bluer skies in Beijing.
The city plans to build a large gas-fueled power station in the Taiyanggong area, which is about four or five kilometres from the Olympic Green in the northern suburbs of Beijing. The facility will replace about 40 heating supply stations which now burn coal.
Also, the first completed infrastructure program for the 2008 Games is the intersection connecting the Fushi Road with the western part of the Fifth Ring Road. The expressway is located about 15 kilometres to the city proper and is 98.58 kilometres, will soon be open to the public.
