By Ben Blanchard
BEIJING (Reuters) - Haze that covered Beijing for dayscleared on Tuesday as rain fell 10 days before the Olympicsopen, but China's government came under fresh pressure from adamning human rights report.
The city's chronic pollution, a sometimes stifling mix ofconstruction dust, vehicle exhaust and industrial fumes, hasbeen one of the biggest worries for Games organisers, whopromised a green Games and have enacted special measures tolift the pall.
They have raised the prospect of more pollution controls,in addition to keeping nearly half of Beijing's 3.3 millioncars off roads and shutting many factories near the capital,but have refused to give details, insisting air quality isimproving.
Du Shaozhong, deputy chief of the Beijing EnvironmentalProtection Bureau, said the haze, which reduces visibility to afew blocks, did not mean air quality was bad.
"We do not approve of the use of pictures to pass judgmenton air quality ... you have to look at the complete monitoringsystem, and scientifically look at the data," Du toldreporters.
"Cloud and fog are not pollution. This kind of weather is anatural phenomenon, and has nothing to do with pollution."
The relatively few athletes already in Beijing tend to bepreparing for non-endurance or indoor sports for whichpollution is not such a big worry. Support staff making readyfor their teams' arrival said they would keep a close eye onconditions.
"It's a worry, but then it's the same for everybody,"Julian Jones, an Australian team staff member, told Reuters.
Beijing is not the only Games city to suffer. Hong Kong,host to the equestrian events, was hit by its worst airpollution ever recorded on Monday. Pollution was thick again onTuesday, making it hard even to see across the city's famedharbour.
"We can see how the horses and riders feel. But we don'tknow if it's from the heat or the humidity or the dirty air,"said Reinhard Wendt, chef de mission for the German equestrianteam.
"We are not used to such circumstances, and the feeling isnot so good at the moment."
Also in Hong Kong, Amnesty International took aim atanother Olympics sensitivity -- human rights -- in a reportsaying China had failed to honour pledges made when seeking tohost the Games.
"There has been no progress towards fulfilling thesepromises, only continued deterioration," said Amnesty's report.
PREVENT RISKS
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said it mayreschedule endurance events such as the marathon to preventhealth risks to athletes if pollution is bad.
"The IOC medical group has said that the air quality willbe okay for any competition up to an hour, and beyond thatwe're in a position to reschedule," senior IOC member KevanGosper said.
"Our concern is the toxin level in that air -- you getfogs, you get cloud, you get wind storms and you get highhumidity and you get high temperatures but the real issue iswhether any of this will be injurious to the athletes," he toldReuters.
Japanese athletes may don masks made for constructionworkers to guard against air pollution during the Games, adoctor affiliated with the Japanese Olympic Committee said onTuesday.
Australian team officials said this week that theirathletes would be allowed to withdraw from their events if theyfelt the pollution posed a threat to their health and safety.
World record holder Haile Gebrselassie has pulled out ofthe marathon over fears of damaging his health.
Beijing will take more steps to control pollution ifneeded, Du said, but he denied a report in the state-run ChinaDaily that 90 percent of private cars could be taken off roads.
Guo Wenli, director of the Beijing Meteorological Bureau'sclimate centre, told the overseas edition of the People's Dailythat historic patterns showed recent "sauna" weather would notlast throughout the two-week Games.
Cars in Beijing are already banned from roads on alternatedays under an odd-and-even licence plate system and manygovernment cars have been ordered off the roads. Taxis, busesand Olympic vehicles are exempt. Around Beijing, heavilypolluting factories, such as steel plants, have also beenclosed.
HUMAN RIGHTS
Amnesty accused China of targeting human rights defenders,journalists and lawyers to "silence dissent" ahead of theGames.
A Chinese government spokesman dismissed the report as aproduct of habitual bias. "This is a statement that anyone whoknows China cannot agree with," the spokesman said.
Teng Biao, a Beijing-based rights lawyer who hasexperienced detention, said that China's Olympics had beenaccompanied by some gains in media freedom and Internet-basedcitizen activism.
"But in many aspects the Amnesty report is right -- therehas been no progress or even deterioration," Teng said bytelephone.
(Additional reporting by Chris Buckley, Lindsay Beck andGuo Shipeng in Beijing, James Pomfret in Hong Kong and NaotoOkamura in Tokyo; Editing by Nick Macfie and Paul Tait)
(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 )