(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-10-20 17:16

BEIJING -- The appreciation of Yuan and the heightened tasks in security management have driven up Beijing's Olympics budget from US$1.6 billion to US$2 billion, Liu Jingmin, vice mayor of Beijing and executive vice president of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2008 Olympic Games, said here on Friday.

Liu Jingmin, Vice Mayor of Beijing and Executive Vice President of the Beijing Olympics Organizing Committee, briefs the media on the preparations for the 2008 Olympic Games at press conference in Beijing on Oct. 19, 2007. [CRIENGLISH.com]

The figure still stays short of the US$2.4-billion budget for the Athens Olympics in 2004, he noted, adding that the committee would make a second revision of the budget in line with needs.

Liu, also vice mayor of Beijing, said Beijing's preparations for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games won't be affected even if there were any personnel change in the organizing body.

"First and foremost, I'm still not aware of any potential personnel change within the BOCOG," he said， adding it has formed a "stable leadership mechanism" in the past few years of preparation.

"Its leaders have played a positive role," he told journalists on the sidelines of the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, "Everything is going on as planne."

Do not politicize Olympic Games

Liu said, political issues should not be associated with the Olympic Games.

"All the political issues that have nothing to do with the Olympics shall not be associated with the Beijing Games. The attempt to boycott the Beijing Games for such excuses is improper and unpopular," he said.

Liu made the remarks when answering a question on the boycott attempt by some people at a press conference on the sidelines of the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

"As the organizer of the 2008 Olympic Games, we advocate the Olympic spirit and carry forward the guidelines of peace, friendship and development. We want the Games to be the world's gathering of peace and friendship," he said.

Beijing Olympic organizers believe the Games would greatly improve understanding and friendship between Chinese people and people in the rest of the world, Liu added.

Chinese President Hu Jintao said on Monday "we will ... ensure the success of the 2008 Olympic Games" while delivering a report that charters the roadmap for China in the years to come.