Security a priority of Expo: Shanghai Party Chief

 Security a priority of Expo: Shanghai Party Chief The government must mobilize the public to safeguard security, which is the priority of the Shanghai World Expo, the top Shanghai official said Wednesday.

The measures to ensure a secure Expo need understanding and support from the public, said Yu Zhengsheng, secretary of the Communist Party of China Shanghai Municipal Committee. "We can minimize the elements of potential dangers only if we trust, rely on and mobilize the grassroot organizations and the public."

Yu made the remarks at the ongoing annual session of the municipal advisory body.

The measures in safeguarding security and smooth traffic would interrupt the citizens's daily life. The government should seek public opinions and understanding to hold a successful Expo, he said.

"We should call for citizens to carry as few bags as possible or even no bags when traveling by subway so as to reduce the pressure on security checks," he said.

The 2010 World Expo will be held from May 1 to Oct. 31 in Shanghai, expected to attract an record total of 70 million visitors.

Source:Xinhua Shanghai in final sprint for World Expo  
China's famous basketball star Yao Ming (C front), who is also the ambassador for the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, speaks at a mobilization meeting for the Shanghai Expo in Shanghai, east China, Jan. 21, 2010. Shanghai Expo entered its 100-day countdown on Jan. 21. (Xinhua/Pang Xinglei)
More than 50 incumbent heads of state or government have expressed intention of visiting Shanghai to see the World Expo that is scheduled for May 1 to Oct. 31, organizers told Xinhua Thursday, which witnessed the 100-day countdown for the six-month-long mega event.

Five trial operation activities will be held at the end of April to check up exhibition pavilions, security and volunteer arrangements, visitor services and logistics for the Expo, sources with the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination said.

The whole city would be motivated for the last trial, and 500,000 people will take part in the drill, the sources added.

EXPO AS ECONOMIC PROPELLER

To date, 192 countries and 50 international organizations have confirmed their participation in the global feast that usually showcases latest advances of architecture and engineering worldwide.

Despite the global economic downturn, no would-be participants have decided to withdraw from the Expo.

Leo Delcroix, commissioner general of Belgian section at the Expo, said that at a time when the western developed economies remained in recession, a savvy policymaker should grasp the opportunity to be offered by the Expo to make preparations for a new-round growth.


Chinese Hong Kong star Jackie Chan sings at a mobilization meeting for the Shanghai World Expo 2010 in Shanghai, east China, Jan. 21, 2010. Shanghai Expo entered its 100-day countdown on Jan. 21. (Xinhua/Pang Xinglei)
Delcroix said that the world economy needed to take a year and a half to recover, during which the Expo would be held. It would be a good chance to showcase to the rest of the world, he added.

Many future participants used to face with such challenges as crisis effect, currency depreciation and budget slash during their preparation for the Expo. But they hold on. The construction of the U.S. pavilion, which had met difficulties in fundraising, is an example.

The United States signed participation contract as late as last July. Construction of the U.S. pavilion began on July 17, and the topping-off finished in October. On Nov. 16, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton paid a visit to the Expo site and appealed for sponsorship for the pavilion, since U.S. laws prohibit the government from allocating money directly for the Expo activity.

According to Nicholas Winslow, president of the U.S. pavilion, 85 percent of the 61-million-U.S. dollar participation cost has been raised, and the construction work will be completed in early March.

"The pavilion will not be a trade show. It will be an opportunity for America to showcase itself to the world," Winslow said.

The Saudi Arabian pavilion, which costs more than 1 billion yuan (146.6 million U.S. dollars), will be completed in mid February. Designed jointly by Saudi Arabian and Chinese architects, the pavilion symbolizes "the marine Silk Road" from China to the Western world, and will witness the largest human and financial resources the Arabic nation will ever put into the Expo activity.

Russia used to participate in world expo by renting an exhibition venue. But this time, it spent more than 1.5 billion rubles (52.8 million U.S. dollars) to build its own pavilion.


People wave flags during a mobilization meeting for the Shanghai World Expo 2010 in Shanghai, east China, Jan. 21, 2010. Shanghai Expo entered its 100-day countdown on Jan. 21. (Xinhua/Zhang Ming)
WHAT SHANGHAI IS PREPARING

Zhong Yanqun, deputy head of the executive committee of the Shanghai World Expo, told Xinhua that of the 42 self-built foreign pavilions, 35 had begun decoration. Construction on another 42 rent pavilions and 11 joint pavilions has completed and exhibition arrangements have started inside them.

"We request that all self-built, rent and joint pavilions have their exhibition arrangements finished by the end of March," Zhong said.

It is estimated that around 70 million people will visit the Expo site, surpassing the 64-million-visitor record set at the Osaka Expo 1970, which will be a challenge to Shanghai's transportation and accommodation systems.

According to the executive committee, most new traffic construction projects for the Expo, including the central ring road and new subway lines, have been completed and open to traffic, and ferry and streetcar lines across the Huangpu River will be completed within three months.

More than 90 bus routes and five subway lines cross the Expo area, and 42 buses will run within 2.4 kilometers of the area.


Children perform at a mobilization meeting for the Shanghai World Expo 2010 in Shanghai, east China, Jan. 21, 2010. Shanghai Expo entered its 100-day countdown on Jan. 21. (Xinhua/Zhang Ming)
A total of 550,000 beds will be available inside Shanghai and another 200,000 beds to be offered in nearby areas for Expo visitors.

In addition, a homestay program will be carried out to ease the tension between accommodation supply and demand.

Zhong said 85,000 square meters of catering areas at the Expo site and 60 restaurants inside foreign pavilions will provide delicious food from around the world for 40,000 visitors every day.

Ninety-five drinking fountains will be arranged to ensure that drinking water available within every 100 meters of walk.

Inside the Expo site, 8,056 public toilet cubicles will be available, or 20.14 ones for every 1,000 visitors if daily accommodation capacity tops 400,000 visitors.

Zhong told Xinhua that for the pavilion of the host and hot destinations, reservation service would be offered to avoid long queues during Expo visits.

Approximately 400,000 sq m of shielding area would be arranged to prevent visitors from exposing to the sunshine in Shanghai's scorching summer, she added.

Thursday's 100-day countdown of the Expo also saw 70,000 volunteers selected from 560,000 applicants ready for training, which is due to begin Friday and last through May 1, for the upcoming massive fair.

The volunteers will serve inside the 5.28-sq km Expo site as interpreters, receptionists, guides and media coordinators. Shanghai is also selecting 130,000 more volunteers to work at 1,000 service sites around the metropolis. They will offer services such as information, interpretation and emergency services outside the Expo site.

As of Jan. 17, more than 18 million tickets had been sold for the Expo.

Source: Xinhua
Shanghai in final sprint for World Expo (2)  More Chinese women duped to be drug mules Foreign drug traffickers are duping an increasing number of Chinese women, especially young victims, into carrying drugs into China, the General Administration of Customs (GAC) has said.

"A rising number of foreign drug traffickers are using the Internet as a tool to recruit or trick Chinese women to transport and receive drugs in China," a statement from the GAC said late on Tuesday.

A number of the women met African men online and later agreed to be the recipients of the packages sent by their "boyfriends", but what they did not know was that the packages contained illegal substances such as cannabis and heroin, GAC said.

China customs recently detected two packages sent to the country from overseas, each containing about 4 kg of cannabis. They were sent to two Chinese women who said the senders were their "online boyfriends" and they did not know what was in the packages, the GAC said.

China customs cracked more than 150 cases of transporting drugs via post and special delivery last year, almost triple the number in 2008. More than 250 kg of drugs were seized in mail and 80 suspects were detained, the GAC said.

Young women are especially being targeted by foreign drug traffickers both online and offline. The customs in Guangzhou, Haikou and Shenzhen cities have busted a series of drug smuggling cases carried out by women who are born after 1980 and it has become a trend, the authorities said.

Young women are seen as easily manipulated or tricked into transporting drugs, especially when money and relationships are involved. The drug traffickers also believe they are not obvious targets of the customs officials.

According to a case revealed by the GAC, a 22-year-old Chinese woman surnamed Luo who studied in Malaysia was detained last March when she tried to pass customs officials with two luggages containing drugs.

Luo said she agreed to carry the luggage from Kuala Lumpur, capital of Malaysia, to China for her Nigerian classmate after accepting a $2,000 fee. She was allegedly not aware that she was smuggling drugs.

In another case, a 25-year-old Chinese girl surnamed Li reportedly met a Nigerian called Frank in January last year in China and soon fell in love with him. Two months later, Frank asked Li to go to Malaysia and pick up some "samples" for him.

Li said she was suspicious then that the samples might be drugs but she still agreed to the request because she loved her boyfriend and was promised 10,000 yuan as fees for her help. Li was detained by the customs as soon as she returned to China with her boyfriend's goods.

Chinese customs nabbed more than 2,110 kg of drugs during its crackdown on drug trafficking last year, a rise of 150 percent year on year.

The customs cracked 15 cases, each involving more than 10 kg of drugs, and busted 506 drug smuggling cases last year, up 34 per cent year on year. It also seized 553 suspects, 8 percent more than the number a year earlier.

Source:China Daily Rise in sea level reaches three-decade high Changes threat to thousands in coastal areas, authorities say

The sea level in China late last year hit a record high for the past three decades, threatening the safety of thousands of people in the coastal areas, the national ocean agency said yesterday.

The average rise in sea level for the past three decades occurred at a rate of 2.6 mm a year, much higher than the average rate of 1.7 mm annually across the world, a report on the sea-level rise in China for 2009 released by the State Oceanic Administration (SOA) showed.

"Last year, the sea level was 8 mm higher than 2008 with the rise in sea level in Hainan province reaching 113 mm, the highest across the country," Lin Shanqing, director of forecast and disaster relief department of the SOA, said yesterday.

Extreme weather like high temperatures and monsoons play an important role in the rise in sea level, Lin said.

In mid August last year, high temperatures hit most parts of southern China, causing the sea level in September to become about 180 mm higher than the previous year and pushing the oceanic temperature to 28.5 C, the second highest record in the past three decades, the report showed.

Experts estimate that the sea level, along the country's coastal areas, will keep rising and a maximum of 130 mm a year is very possible in the next three decades.

In order to avoid the possible damage caused by the rise in sea level such as storm tides, coastal erosion, seawater encroachment and soil salinization, officials from the SOA suggested authorities of coastal cities improve sea level monitoring systems and take the impact of the rise in sea level into account when making plans for economic development.

"The Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, the Yellow River Delta and coastal areas of Tianjin are the county's most economically developed regions and are potential areas that could suffer from the impact of the rise in sea level," Xu Sheng, director of the National Marine Data and Information Service, told China Daily.

"Local authorities of the coastal areas should build higher dams and take environmental protection measures to slow down the rise of the sea level," Xu said.

For island countries such as the Maldives, a sea-level rise of only 1 m is a matter of life and death.

More than 70 percent of the world's population live on coastal plains and 11 of the world's 15 largest cities are on the coast or estuaries.

Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said in Copenhagen on Dec 7 last year that the goal of keeping global temperature increases below 2 C this century would lead to a sea-level rise of 0.4 to 1.4 m. Add on the effect of melting of snow and ice and several small island states and Bangladesh will be submerged.

A number of experts at Oxford University also predicted that a rise of at least 2m in the world's sea level is now almost unstoppable due to man-made greenhouse gas emission, unless the planet is cooled.

Source:China Daily