2008 Games will aid China reform, say organisers

Chinese performers hold cardboards featuring the five Olympic rings, during a performance to mark the two-year countdown to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. China photos / Getty Images

BEIJING - The Beijing Olympic Games, which open two years to the day, will act as a catalyst for political and social development in China, organising committee Secretary General Wang Wei said today.

Many within the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had hoped awarding China the Games would help accelerate reform in the Communist-controlled state.

"For the whole society, the Olympic Games will speed up reform and opening up," Wang said at a news conference in the Chinese capital. "Chinese people will have more opportunities to have international exchange with the rest of the world.

"I should say that China is on a fast track of development towards modernisation and the Olympic Games will act as a catalyst."

Wang, a former deputy secretary general of the Beijing municipality, said the government had learnt a lot from cooperating with the corporate world in staging the Olympics.

"I think the Games will speed up reform of the functionality of the government," he said, adding that he thought legislation had been "facilitated" by the Olympics.

"China is rapidly developing towards a society ruled by law," he said.

"In the staging of the Games we have introduced legislation ... at both national and local levels. Most of these issues would have been tackled through administrative procedures in the past."

One issue that still gives cause fo concern is media freedom.

The Foreign Correspondents Club of China released a statement on Monday complaining of harrassment and calling on the government to ease reporting restrictions ahead of the Olympics.

Paris-based Reporters Without Borders also weighed in with a statement, accusing the IOC of ignoring what they called China's crackdown on the media.

At Tuesday's new conference, Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG) Vice President Jiang Xiaoyu reiterated his president Liu Qi's commitment to allowing reporters the same freedom they had enjoyed at previous Games.

"Where international norms differ from our practice we will adopt international and Games norms," Jiang said, adding that the commitment applied to journalists accredited by the IOC to cover the Games and those without accreditation.

"However, all will have to abide by China's laws," he said.

The officials said preparations for the Olympics were going well, although Jiang said more work was needed to improve the traffic situation in Beijing.

BOCOG still plan to include Taiwan on the torch relay route, although the self-governing island, which China considers a rebel province, had not yet been approached.

Wang was unsure whether Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian would participate in the opening ceremony.

"We have not had any message from Chen Shui-bian that he wants to come," he said.

- REUTERS