One month to go: Beijing prepares to deliver Olympics

BEIJING (Reuters) - With a month remaining until theopening ceremony of one of the most scrutinised Olympic Gamesin history, the time has come for Beijing to deliver on sevenyears of promises and billions of dollars spent.

On July 13, 2001, the state news agency Xinhua hailed thedecision to award the Olympic Games to Beijing as being a"milestone in China's rising international status and ahistorical event in the great renaissance of the Chinesenation".

Six months ago, preparations were going to plan withgleaming new venues and infrastructure almost completely inplace for the August 8-24 Games.

But violent unrest in Tibet in March followed by globalanti-Chinese protests have marred Beijing's final countdown tothe Games. Moreover, the threat of terrorism and pollution havepresented the Communist authorities with new challenges.

However, with the 31 venues completed and the army ofmigrant workers putting the finishing touches to a $40 billion(20 billion pound) upgrade of the city's once-creakinginfrastructure, organisers are upbeat.

"We are fully prepared for the opening of the BeijingOlympic Games," organising committee (BOCOG) vice presidentJiang Xiaoyu said last week. "We are going to use the last 36days to further perfect the arrangements."

China's rulers wanted to use the Games to promote internalstability and show off a confident, increasingly influentialeconomic power to the rest of the world.

After the public relations disaster of the March 14 Tibetriots and the protest-disrupted international leg of theOlympic torch relay, some have questioned whether China'sleaders care anymore about external opinion.

"China wants the Olympics to be applauded by theinternational community and at the same time instil a sense ofpride in the Chinese people," said Jiang Qisheng of the Chinachapter of International PEN, an association founded to defendfreedom of expression.

"But stability is more important. International applause isranked only second. If forced to choose, China would ratherhave stability."

The May 12 Sichuan earthquake and the genuine outpouring ofemotion over the death of nearly 70,000 people altered someperceptions of China, turning the award of the Olympics "fromobscene accolade to worthy reward" in the words of Britishcommentator Simon Jenkins.

TERRORISM CONCERN

But visa restrictions for visitors, plans to rid Beijing ofpetitioners, the homeless and migrant workers as well as thetight control of the media on "sensitive" legs of the domestictorch relay point to obsessive stage-management.

China says it views terrorism as the biggest threat to theGames and a 100,000-strong anti-terrorism force is already onalert.

Rights groups say Beijing is using the threat of terrorismto suppress internal dissent, especially in the restivefar-Western regions of Tibet and Xinjiang, which is home tomore than 8 million Muslim Uighurs.

"We are worried that there will be an even more wide-scalecrackdown on the Uighur people, especially over the nextmonth," said Dilxat Raxit, spokesman for the exiled WorldUyghur Congress.

"China is using the final opportunity the Olympics presentsto portray Uighurs to the international community asterrorists. We have always opposed China holding the Olympics.We are the biggest victims of it, even more so than theTibetans."

Free Tibet is asking British athletes to express supportfor its cause by making a "T for Tibet" sign during the Games,it said in a statement on Monday.

American, Dutch and Australian athletes have alreadyindicated their intention to express their concerns about humanrights during the Games.

ALGAE STENCH

The stench of the algae in the city of Qingdao, which willhost the Olympic sailing events, has been a vivid reminder thatenvironmental concerns still dog the Games.

Of more pressing concern to most athletes is the airquality in the capital and the International Olympic Committee(IOC) has said some endurance events might be rescheduled ifthe pollution presents a health risk.

The surrounding provinces of Hebei and Tianjin orderedfactory closures this month and four others are also involvedin the effort to keep the Beijing skies clear.

Beijing has spent more than 120 billion yuan onenvironmental improvements over the last decade and its owncontingency plans will come into force mainly from July 20.

China's athletes have continued to prepare for the Gamesaway from the prying eyes of the media.

Life bans for two Olympic hopefuls caught doping this year-- swimmer Ougang Kunpeng and wrestler Luo Meng -- have leftthem in no doubt that the authorities do not want to lose faceat their own party with any positive tests.

(Additional reporting by Benjamin Kang Lim, Ben Blanchard;Editing by Jeremy Laurence)

(For more stories visit our multimedia website "Road toBeijing" at http://www.reuters.com/news/sports/2008olympics;and see our blog at http://blogs.reuters.com/china)