More than 100 correspondents from 20 overseas news organizations,
including AP and AFP are covering the Ninth
Beijing Municipal
Party Congress which is now in session. This is the biggest number
yet to cover the Beijing party congress, according to staffs at the
congress press center.
Since China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) and
Beijing's successful bid for the 2008 Olympic Games, the Chinese
capital of Beijing has come to world attention and the
municipality's development is considered an important showcase for
the world to view changes in the country.
During the congress, Jia Qinglin, secretary of the Beijing
Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), summed
up the progress Beijing has made over the last five years and said
the target for the next five years is to reach the goal of the
per-capita gross domestic product (GDP) of US$6,000 annually.
Wang Hui with the Beijing Municipal Office for Overseas Publicity
said: "the distance between Beijing and the world and its markets
is narrowing."
Correspondents from overseas are interested in such issues as the
city's GDP growth, urban development and efforts to preserve part
of its unique features as an ancient city as well as preparatory
work now under way for the Olympic Games, Wang noted.
Moreover, Wang added, the overseas correspondents are provided with
easy access to their coverage of the congress with numerous
closed-door discussion sessions open to them.
(Xinhua News
Agency May 20, 2002)