Beijing Vice-Mayor Liu Jingmin said Beijing does not intend to conduct sweeps of migrants or screen visitors during the 2008 Summer Games. He said China was confident that it could stage an Olympics clean of corruption, open and transparent.
“2008 will be an opportunity for the entire world to come and enthusiastically participate”, he said. “We certainly would not investigate participants or block certain people from attending.
Liu said, “democracy and law are also developing, but of course under China’s own situation. To hold an Olympics, we have to accept different points of view. We are moving toward the world and the world is also moving toward us”.
Liu said Beijing would have to guarantee the security of participants and to consider its own limits, given the size of China’s population. “Surely, if all 1.3 billion people came to Beijing, there would be no space for anyone”.
Liu also denied accusations that the city would use the 2008 Games as an excuse to clear out the poor, saying that overall the qualify of life of all residents would improve as the city closes down heavily polluting enterprise and takes over measures to clear its skies of thick smog.
At the same time, Beijing had pledged to preserve centuries-old housing along the little lanes or alleys that once sprawled across the city, much of which is being torn down to make room for high rises, new boulevards and freshly planted trees.
Liu said, “Beijing’s cultural heritage is a treasure. If it loses its unique character, we will be just like any Western city”.
China’s pledge to spend billions of dollars on roads, subways, pollution control and stadiums helped sell Beijing to IOC members. Liu said planners were now considering how to avoid building Olympics facilities that would not end up vacant and useless after the Games end.
