Beijing May Green for the Olympics, but Long-Term Forecast Is Gray
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For the worldâs Olympians, Beijingâs air is a performance issue. For the cityâs estimated 12 million residents, pollution is an inescapable health and quality-of-life issue.
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Some 1.5 million residents of Beijing will be displaced by the time it hosts the 2008 Olympics, many of them evicted against their will, a rights group said on Tuesday, prompting a sharp denial by China.
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Preparations for the Beijing 2008 Olympics are well on schedule but pollution is still a concern, the International Olympic Committee said on Wednesday.
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Two months ago when the Mayor of Athens visited London, she told a story about the preparations for the Athens Games. It went like this: a delegation from Athens visited Beijing where the 2008 Games are to be held.
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China exuded optimism on Tuesday about the 2008 Beijing Olympics, saying its centuries of culture and history would light up the world, even as organizers came under renewed pressure to fulfill a media freedom pledge.
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Zhuang Zedong is highly unlikely to light the cauldron at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics in August 2008, but there was a time when he would have been the natural choice.
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(InfoWorld) - The 2008 Summer Olympics is going to be China's coming out party, a chance for the country to show its modern face to the world. To that end, the Chinese government is pouring billions of dollars into new roads, modern stadiums, and an expanded subway network to prepare for the games. With less than 400 days until the opening ceremony on Aug. 8, 2008, workers and officials appear on track to have everything ready. Everything, that is, except 3G, or third-generation mobile technology. China remains one of the few Asian countriesÂ without 3G service, despite years of breakneck economic development and a love of high technology. Telecom analysts and industry insiders have long sought to divine the plans of China's Ministry of Information Industry (MII), which regulates the telecommunications sector, to give operators licenses for the technology. Year after year,Â the forecastÂ was always for licenses to be issued later this year or early next year. Eventually, most observers gave up guessing, tired of the game, as foreign equipment makers waited for a presumed surge in orders for 3G gear that never came. The main obstacle was TD-SCDMAÂ (Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access), a 3G standard that was largely developed in China and remains unproven. The Chinese government spent heavily on TD-SCDMA development, and officials won't give the go-ahead for 3G licenses until the technology is ready for deployment. When that might happen is anybody's guess. But TD-SCDMA trials are underway in several Chinese cities andÂ Nokia has handsets ready to shipÂ early next year, suggesting the technology may be close to commercial use. When Beijing won the bid to host the games, officials promised a "High-Tech Olympics" to highlight new technologies and showcase China's economic development. 3G was going to be one of the technologies on display. "We shall energetically develop the mobile communication technology of the third generation," the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) promised in documents compiled for the city's bid. After Beijing won the bid, China Mobile CommunicationsÂ (China Mobile), the country's largest mobile operator, described how it planned to use 3G. The company said visitors would be able to buy tickets for Olympic events and watch live video coverage on their 3G phones, as well as access information about restaurants, shopping and sightseeing. Athletes and staff would also use 3G to access information related to the games, it said. China's commitment to the use of 3G during the Olympics was reinforced last December by Wang Xudong, China's minister of information industry, who promised operators would have 3G licenses in time to build their networks for the Olympic games. BOCOG officials declined to answer questions concerning the use of 3G during the games, but analysts expect the government to deliver on its 3G commitment. "The Chinese government will not break its promise," said Kevin Li, an analyst at In-Stat China, in Beijing. But regulators have another hurdle to overcome before 3G licenses can be issued China's telecommunications industry is split along geographic and technological lines, with two fixed-line operators and two mobile operators, as well as several smaller players. Since this structure was created in 1999, the industry has changed, complicating the 3G licensing process. China had 110 million fixed-line phone subscribers and 33 million mobile subscribers at the end of 1999, according to government statistics. Fast forward to May 2007 and the numbers tell a very different story: China had 372 million fixed-line subscribers and 496 million mobile subscribers. The disparity in subscriber growth is reflected in the financial performance of China's fixed-line and mobile operators, especially China Mobile. China Mobile saw its revenue rise 24.9 percent during 2006, while China United Communications Corp. (China Unicom), the country's other mobile operator, saw revenue increase 11.3 percent. By comparison, fixed-line operators China Telecommunications (China Telecom) and China Network Communications GroupÂ (China Netcom) saw their revenue rise 6.3 percent and 4 percent, respectively. "China Mobile's growth has made it the envy of other operators in China," wrote Matt Walker, a senior analyst at Ovum, in a recent research note. To put operators on a more equal footing, China is widely expected to split up China Unicom, which operates both a GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) and CDMA networks. In this scenario, China Unicom's cellular operations would be divided between China Telecom and China Netcom, which do not currently offer cellular services, although both companies are involved in TD-SCDMA testing. But how the industry gets restructured is not up to MII alone. The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC), which oversees China's state-owned companies, plays a central role in the restructuring process, and will help determine which 3G technologies operators are allowed to use with their licenses. The National Development and Reform Commission and Ministry of Science and Technology also have a say in these decisions. Once the questions of TD-SCDMA's readiness and the industry restructuring are resolved, MII can issue 3G licenses . That's likely to happen during the first half of 2008, with licenses for TD-SCDMA, W-CDMA (Wideband CDMA), and CDMA2000 1X EV-DO (Evolution Data Optimized) networks granted simultaneously, In-Stat's Li said. But not all of these networks will be in service for the games. "At least one type of 3G service will be commercially available during the 2008 Olympics, but we are not sure which technology will be available," Li said. "That's up to the operators." The most likely bet is TD-SCDMA. Operators have already signed contracts to build TD-SCDMA networks in Beijing and other cities, including Qingdao, where the Olympic sailing events will be held. Similar deals have not yet been struck for W-CDMA and CDMA2000 1X EV-DO, giving the homegrown 3G technology a head start for the games. Â
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Tourists seeking their own Olympian challenge while attending the Beijing Games this August might be tempted to get behind the wheel of a rental car and take a spin on the roads of the Chinese capital.
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Children and the elderly in Beijing were advised to stay indoors as thick smog choked the city on Friday, a day after a top Olympic official warned that pollution could disrupt next year's Games.
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Rising oil prices and pollution are  fueling interest in green power in Asia but experts see no  prospect of a rapid switch from the region's growing dependence  on oil, coal and gas.
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China will spend considerably less on Olympic security than recent host countries, but organizers said they were confident the safety of the 2008 Games could be ensured at a low cost.
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Although the Beijing Olympics is still four years away, the Chinese capital is already gearing up to host the event. The city of over 12 million is refurbishing ancient landmarks in
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China sets out its strategy for tackling climate change, but stresses it will not sacrifice economic growth.
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Pampered pigs or processed pork? Farm-fresh or greenhouse grown? With China's food supplies under scrutiny following a series of health and safety scares, Chinese officials are taking no chances for the Olympic Games this August.
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China can expect more droughts, floods and other extreme weather as it struggles to balance rapid development with environmental concerns, a report on climate change released on Tuesday said.
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The 2008 Olympics are still a long way away but worries are already growing about whether it will become the first genetically enhanced competition in the crown jewel of international amateur sports.
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At the traditional start of the ski season, most slopes around Austria are still more green than white but resorts are undaunted by reports of global warming.