Beijing Winter Olympics bid 'serious, responsible': official

A senior Chinese sports official said here on Tuesday that Beijing's bid for 2022 Winter Olympics is serious and responsible, and that the city is making great efforts to improve air quality.

Though Beijing is facing challenges on air quality, the municipal government is sparing no effort to tackle the problem, said vice president of the Chinese Olympic Committee Yang Shu'an, at a press briefing on President Xi's visit to the Sochi winter games.

"Proposed co-host, Zhangjiakou, has the best air quality of all Chinese cities north of the Yangtze River," said Yang.

China announced last November a joint bid by Beijing and Zhangjiakou to host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. Beijing, host of the 2008 summer games, hopes to stage the ice events while Zhangjiakou, a ski resort some 200 km northwest of Beijing in neighboring Hebei Province, will host snow sports.

"Our bid for the Winter Olympics is serious and responsible," Yang said.

He added that Beijing and Hebei will send delegations to Sochi to participate in International Olympics Committee observer programs to prepare for the bid.

Last Thursday, Beijing Mayor Wang Anshun declared an "all-out effort" to tackle the city's bad air by cutting coal use by 2.6 million tonnes and transforming 300 polluting companies this year.

A draft regulation on pollution treatment and prevention will be reviewed on Wednesday at the annual session of the municipal People's Congress, Beijing's legislature, Foreign Ministry director of information Qin Gang told a press briefing.

"If passed, this will be a major step toward defeating Beijing's air pollution and will create favorable conditions for the 2022 bid," Qin told reporters.