The vibrant economic growth, extensive public support for the Olympic bid, sufficient accommodation, communication and transportation capacity as well as the well-planned Olympic venues would combine to make Beijing a strong candidate for the games, Liu Jingmin, vice president of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Bid Committee (BOBICO) said at the press conference.

"We want to show the IOC evaluation commission the true conditions and capabilities of Beijing and the enthusiasm and confidence of the Beijing citizens," Liu said.

The average economic growth of 10 percent in the past five years indicated Beijing has been financially capable of hosting the world's biggest sports event. The city government income, rising by 24 percent on an annual bases, last year were three times that of 1995. The total number of the fixed capital investment has amounted to 360 billion yuan (about US$44 billion) during the 1998-2000 period, Liu said.

Beijing's Olympic ambitions are also shared by its people, Liu said. That was demonstrated by a recent independent survey by Gallup China Co, which indicated 94.9 percent Beijingers back Beijing's bid.

Liu also said that there are enough hotels in Beijing to accommodate the vast number of athletes, journalists and tourists who would come during the Olympics. There are 396 star hotels and about 80,000 suite rooms in Beijing and the number of four- or five-star hotel reaches 54, he said.

Fourthly, Beijing possesses the telecommunication as well as traffic control system necessary for the Olympic Games, Liu said. In less than four years' time, the number of fixed telephone subscribers increased to some 7 million, and the number of mobile phone subscribers almost increased ten folds.

Lastly, Beijing made a very good planning of its possible Olympic venues, which include the main area and three sub-areas. All the competition and training venues are a five to 30 minutes drive to the Olympic village.

After the Olympic Games, the main area will be turned into a civic area for such purposes as exhibitions, sports and recreation. The university area will be used for training, competition and cultural and art activities for students. The western community area will continue to provide sports facilities to the citizens there. The scenic area will be adapted to cater to the needs of the tourists.

(People's Daily 02/21/2001)