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Improved crisis cooperation needed - Beijing mayor(Reuters)Updated: 2007-03-12 16:52 The various departments of the Beijing government need to improve collaboration if they are to deal effectively with any crises during the 2008 Olympics, said mayor Wang Qishan.
"Airport, civil aviation, air traffic management, meteorological bureau and transportation administration, each department has its own perfect system," Wang was quoted as saying by state media. "But the collaborations are always 'one plus one equalling less than two', rather than 'one plus one equalling more than two.' "Therefore at the moment it is urgent to strengthen the combined actions and cooperation. Especially for the Olympics, we must keep practising that ability," he added. Wang said the city government needed to take advantage of any opportunity to rehearse cooperation over the next 18 months, such as when the airport is closed by fog or railway lines are blocked by snow. "Every incident should be a drill for the Games," said Wang, who is also executive president of the Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG). SMOKE AND SMOG Despite media speculation to the contrary, deputy mayor Zhao Fengtong said Beijingers would not be getting three weeks holiday during the Games to help ease the city's traffic problems. The suggestion from a delegate to the CPPCC, an advisory body to the NPC, that smoking be restricted at the Olympic venues is also being considered, according to another deputy mayor. The Chinese smoke some 2 trillion cigarettes each year and smoking bans are often ignored. "BOCOG is discussing with the Health Ministry to set aside special smoking areas in the game venues so as to ensure most part of these venues free of tobacco smog," Liu Jingmin, also executive vice president of BOCOG, told state news agency Xinhua. Beijing has already launched a campaign to improve the manners of its 15 million citizens in time for the Games with spitting in public places and a failure to queue coming under particular scrutiny. The city's Ethics office also proposed that swearing at sporting events, whether in Mandarin or local dialect, be added to the list of social ills to be stamped out. |
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Wang made the comments during wide-ranging discussions of Olympic issues -- including proposals on holidays, smoking and swearing -- at the annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC) and its advisory body on Sunday.