The Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has selected Beijing and four other cities as finalists to run for hosting the 2008 Olympic Games.
Also in the running are Istanbul, Osaka, Paris and Toronto.
The five cities were selected during the IOC board's meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, that ended Monday.
The board rejected bids from Bangkok, Cairo, Havana, Kuala Lumpur and Seville of Spain.
Also Monday, the head of the Chinese Olympic squad that will compete in Sydney next month said in Shenzhen that the Chinese Olympic Committee will continue to work closely with its foreign counterparts and is opposed to the use of performance-enhancing drugs during the Olympic Games.
"Any Chinese athlete suspected of taking performance-enhancing drugs will be prohibited from competing in Sydney, Australia, in September," Yuan Weimin, Chinese Olympic Committee president, reiterated.
Yuan said some international groups were prejudiced against China and had "double standards" in their anti-doping practice.
China has always followed a policy of opposing the use of performance-enhancing drugs in sporting events, he added.
Stricter and more scientific measures, including urine and blood tests, are used to determine if drugs have been taken.
China's Olympic delegation to Sydney, consisted of about 311 top athletes will compete for prizes in 25 out of the total 28 sports.
In order to win the fourth place prize as China has done in the previous two Olympic Games, Yuan predicted that China has to pocket 20 gold medals this year, up from 16 golds from Atlanta and Barcelona.
(China Daily)
