¡¡¡¡1. HK television: Has there been any new conclusion on the terrorist incidence targeting the Olympic Games in Xinjiang? Have authorities raised the danger level about the security in Shanghai. And, has the city stepped up security measures against terrorists? Thank you!

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¡¡¡¡Wang Wei: In terms of the security work for the Shanghai venue, we have always followed the documents and regulations issued by the BOCOG and security leadership team. To ensure successful soccer matches in Shanghai, the city¡¯s police, armed police, firefighters and PLA soldiers have formed a tight security network through close coordination. I should say Shanghai has taken the strictest and highest security measures set by the BOCOG.

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¡¡¡¡2. Xinmin Evening News: What adjustments will be made to control the traffic around the Shanghai Stadium during the match tomorrow night? Will there be measures to facilitate the traffic?

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¡¡¡¡Wang Wei: We published announcements on traffic controls during the matches on all newspapers yesterday. We¡¯ll take some temporary measures on match days to ensure spectators can enter the main match venue smoothly and ensure smooth traffic in surrounding areas. We¡¯ll impose temporary traffic control at four streets near the stadium two hours before the match, as said in the announcement, that¡¯s to say, two streets are closed and the other two accessible to buses but off limits to trucks. To ensure security, the spectators must pass the security check, and we also will ensure the audience flow. As said in our announcement, there will be measures for bus and subway lines to take care of the spectators after the match, for example, more trains will be put on the subway to wait for the spectators after the match.

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¡¡¡¡3. Newsweek: Mr Wang, two weeks ago Shanghai police said they had caught some terror suspects in the lead-up to the Olympic Games. Could you tell us whether the suspects were related to the East Turkistan organization in Xinjiang? What were they targeting in Shanghai?

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¡¡¡¡Chen Qiwei: Relevant departments held a press conference last time (on this) and media have reported on it. I must make it clear here that, number one, media misinterpreted it and published wrong reports; number two, Shanghai police have made full preparations to ensure security at the Olympic soccer matches in the city. Thank you!

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¡¡¡¡Newsweek: In what ways were the reports wrong?

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¡¡¡¡Chen Qiwei: The leaders of the relevant departments cited a nationwide case, but media reports said Shanghai caught some terror suspects, so some media outlets misinterpreted the release by the leaders.

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¡¡¡¡4. China Youth Daily: Weather forecasts said the typhoon will affect the Beijing and Hong Kong venues, and does the city have emergency plans? Some reports said subway shops in Shanghai will be moved away for a month, and have authorities any measures to compensate for their economic losses?

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¡¡¡¡Wang Wei: To ensure smooth soccer matches, Shanghai¡¯s meteorological department has initiated a special weather program offering a forecast every three hours. The meteorological data in the past two days have indicated good weather, and the latest forecast says it will be perfect weather tomorrow, so the spectators don¡¯t have to worry about the weather during the two matches tomorrow night. Given August is the peak season for typhoons, we¡¯ve made full preparations, like maintenance of the landscape sites and preparation of backup lawns. This time we have set apart 18,000 pieces of lawn as backup in Jinshan District and Jiangsu Province, and asked the lawn provider to ensure the backup lawn is in several colors for face-lifting the court, which may come out in better pictures on TV during the live broadcast.

¡¡¡¡I¡¯ve been at the match venues these past two days and have read news reports about the subway shops, but I don¡¯t have any information on the details. I believe the subway company and the shop owners will handle the issue properly according to agreement reached between them earlier.

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¡¡¡¡Chen Qiwei: You can check with the subway company.

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¡¡¡¡5. Eastday.com: I¡¯d like to know how the spectators solve the problem of drinking water and snacks during the matches. What is the deadline of the entry time? Thank you!

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¡¡¡¡Wang Wei: About the entry time set by the BOCOG, the match venue opens two hours before the start. Our announcement also instructs the spectators to get there as early as possible according to their travel schedules to allow for the time for security checks. We¡¯ve considered food and drinks supply during the matches, especially for the two matches tomorrow night. A spectator with two tickets will stay in the stadium for a long time given the 90-minute matches, 15-minute breaks and another 45-minute interval between the two matches. We¡¯ll set up 16 booths on the 6.4-meter platform inside the venue, 20 sales vehicles, and five drinks stands selling mineral water only. We hope spectators don¡¯t swarm when buying the food and drinks. They can buy at the entry time, 15-minute breaks, interval between the two matches or even the matches, and this will ensure a good order.

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¡¡¡¡Chen Qiwei: That¡¯s all for the first session of the press conference. Thank you!

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¡¡¡¡Venue: Shanghai branch of the 2008 Beijing International Media Center

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¡¡¡¡1. Wenhui Daily: Hello, Director Fang. At a press conference, the chief economist of the statistics bureau said Shanghai will have great difficulty in (reaching the goals of) energy conservation and emission reduction in the second half year. In you view, what are the obstacles? And what will you do to solve these problems? Thank you!

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¡¡¡¡Fang Fang: From the establishment of the goal to the achievement of the tasks for the 11th Five-Year Plan, we had expected, at the very beginning, the huge program to be most demanding and were prepared to arrange our work in great details. So we made a series of arrangements while working on the third environmental protection plan, and we¡¯ve been making steady progress in carrying out the plans. However, since the beginning of the year, new problems have cropped up, such as the coal supply, fast-rising power consumption by households and accelerating urban development, posing considerable pressure for the emission reduction work. Deputy Mayor Shen Xiaoming called a meeting with officials of environment and relevant departments in April, making detailed analysis and specifying some measures. For example, Deputy Mayor Shen Xiaoming chaired about six meetings on the sewage treatment plant and last week he went to the workplace to check the progress of several key projects. With the concerted efforts across the city, I¡¯m confident that we can reach this year¡¯s emission reduction goal, as well as goals for the 11th Five-Year Plan. I¡¯m also confident that we can reach all the emission reduction goals for the 11th Five-Year Plan by yearend of 2009.

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¡¡¡¡2. SMG TV News Center: The General Office of the State Council recently called on the nation to implement the program of energy conservation and emission reduction, urging government officials and state-owned businesses to use their service cars at least one day less each week. Has the city also come up with relevant regulations and requirements?

¡¡¡¡Chen Qiwei: Shanghai will actively implement the state policies on energy conservation and emission reduction and the State Council¡¯s regulations. So far I do not have information on the specified measures. We¡¯ll publish it once we have the information.

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¡¡¡¡3. China Central Television: What steps will Shanghai take to monitor the air quality during the Olympics? And what measures to ensure the air quality?

¡¡¡¡Fang Fang: About air monitoring at Olympic venues, we have made a series of preparations since last year, mainly in the following two aspects: number one, the monitoring of environment and air quality has been stepped up. Soon after the Olympic venues were named, we began in February to work on new monitoring systems and set up automatic air monitoring stations at the Olympic venues. All monitoring devices have been installed and started stable operation. Number two, Shanghai has also worked out some emergency preparations: one is to exercise different levels of management. The highest level of management will be exercised at areas surrounding the Olympic venues, banning all vehicles that are below certain standards. Two is to implement the measures of designed staff and designated posts at key enterprises near the Olympic venues. A business will be forced to suspend operation or face temporary production limit once it is found to exceed the emission standards.

¡¡¡¡In addition, to ensure steadily improving environment around the Olympic venues, Shanghai will also put buses under strict administration set at three levels.

¡¡¡¡One, the inspection areas are classified into three levels. Level-one areas include the Olympic venues and reception venues. Level-two areas include Shanghai Railway, Shanghai South Railway Station, Hongqiao Airport, Pudong Airport. Areas within the Inner Ring Road are level three.

¡¡¡¡Two, standards for bus emission are specified. Black smoke is banned for buses in the level-one areas. Because of maintenance and service time, some buses will give off black smoke at times during engine start or braking. To ensure the ban, the following will be done. One, coordination will be strengthened with bus companies to make sure drivers operate and maintain the buses properly. Two, spot checks on the buses will be strengthened. A group of people will be put on standby to check the vehicles at bus parking lot to ensure they are in good conditions. Close monitoring will be enforced at level-two areas. For level-three areas within the Inner Ring Road, environment protection personnel will be sent to do inspection and solve any problems once discovered. What¡¯s more, monitoring spots will be set up to check buses around the Olympic venues. Since June, Shanghai has stepped up bus checking on the roads. Law enforcement officers has checked buses around the Olympic venues and set up nine monitoring spots in the level-one areas, involving 56 bus routes, to get first-hand information on the buses¡¯influence on the air quality. Inspection was also conducted on 54 bus routes in the level-two areas. A total of 28 monitoring spots were set up within the Outer Ring Road, with two or three in each district. To ensure a good operation condition of the buses, authorities have begun enforcing a plan for bus inspection at Olympic venues, and now the visual checks, rectification and supervision stages have been wrapped up, to ensure that there is no bus black smoke.

¡¡¡¡By the way, the proportion of good-air days within a year has remained at above 85% for five consecutive years, and nearly 90% last year. Because of the city¡¯s geographical location and our efforts, July to September has been the best months of a year in terms of air quality over the past few years. I¡¯ve some figures to prove it. The air quality at more than 95% of the days in August haa been rated good in the past five years. During the time, the excellence index for major pollutants like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide were all 100%, with only the rate of inhalable particles exceeding the limit. According to the five-tier evaluation system, August is the month with most days of level-one days. So you can rest assured of the air quality in August.

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¡¡¡¡4, Da Kung Pao: The Public Security Bureau recently set up an Olympic information center. Could tell us something about it? Thank you!

¡¡¡¡Chen Qiwei: This press conference features the environment protection, and we¡¯ll give you an answer sometime shortly after.

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¡¡¡¡4. China Business News: Two questions. First, Director Fang just now mentioned the Qingcaosha Reservoir that Shanghai plans to finish as the largest of its kind in the city. I¡¯d like to know more details about it, like its relation to the 2010 World Expo. Second question: Director Fang said the third or fourth round of the three-year action plan has specific goals. Could you name those big air polluters or businesses in the urban area? Do you have specific measures to handle the big sources of pollutants?

¡¡¡¡Fang Fang: As is known to all, Shanghai draws 60-70% of its tap water from the Huangpu River and 30-40% from the Yangtze River. The water in Huangpu reaches the state requirements but is not as good as that in the Yangtze. After the completion of the Qingcaosha Reservoir, Shanghai will see its tap-water supplies greatly changed: 70-80% will come from the Yangtze and only 20-30% from the Huangpu. The greatest benefit for the citizens after the reservoir is completed is, for example, we can drink direct from the tap provided that the pipeline network is very safe. This will come true because the reservoir can improve the water from Yangtze to level-one quality and all 108 indicators will reach the state standards after processing at the tap-water plants. Of course it would be much better when boiled.

¡¡¡¡What measures do we have to handle the major pollution sources in downtown? The first and second parts of my introduction emphasized one point: After the large-scale adjustment of the urban layout, industrial businesses have been moved out of downtown area, especially within the Inner Ring Road, with only service businesses left. In the latter part of my introduction, I pointed out the fact that the major polluting sources in the downtown come from motor vehicle emissions, instead of household coal burning in the past. The State Council has called on the government departments and public service institutions to reduce use of sedans and use public transport as much as possible. In addition, environmental protection measures and update of the car emission standards will also improve the environment quality in the central areas.

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¡¡¡¡Chen Qiwei: I add something about the reservoir. Just now Director Fang meant to say that citizens can drink directly from the tap in 2010 provided that the pipeline network is very safe.

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¡¡¡¡5. Interfax: As mentioned just now, the fourth-round environment protection program will include denitration work. Is there any specific plan to offer subsidies funded by treasury? The second question: the Shanghai Environment and Energy Exchange was established yesterday. I¡¯d like to know what functions the exchange was designed to have, because, according to the press release, the program is more about project consultation rather than exchange.

¡¡¡¡Fang Fang: About the denitration work, we have been working on support policies, and are doing detailed analysis. The city government has allocated special funds for energy conservation and emission reduction to cover costs arising from the promotion of the energy conservation and emission reduction program. About the sewage discharge exchange, Shanghai has considered the issue since the late 1990s in response to encouragement by the World Bank and the World Environment Organization. As early as the mid-1990s, we thought about pollutants discharge exchange at the water source in the upper reaches of the Huangpu River, and the issue involved many technical problems to be solved. We intend some incentives to encourage proper discharge, which proves to be effective, but some outstanding problems have to solved, the key one being monitoring, that¡¯s to say, how much is discharged. We¡¯ve begun to improve monitoring means since last century and these years are trying to improve the system. If the monitoring and evaluation system is not well established, big errors will be made in determining the amount during the exchange. To ensure proper exchange, we have to break through the technical bottleneck at present. When we were talking with the US Trade Development Agency, I said the tightest bottleneck at present is the monitoring devices and means. The establishment of the exchange is a signal that policies will in the future play a bigger guiding role, ensuring that business will further reduce pollutants discharge after meeting requirements.

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¡¡¡¡Chen Qiwei: Thank you for today¡¯s press conference.

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