Y: Yang Rui, Presenter of the CCTV English programme Dialogue

　　W: Wang Guangya, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, PRC

　　Y: China's two largest cities, Beijing and Shanghai, often compete for influence. Last year, Beijing won the bid to host the 2008 Olympic games and this year Shanghai is bidding to host the 2010 World Exposition. Shanghai is the first city in China to formally apply to host the Expo. The other five candidate cities are Moscow, Mexico City, Buenos Aires<注1>, Poland's Wroclaw<注2> and South Korea' Yeosu<注3>. BIE's (Bureau of International Exhibition) 88 member states will vote in December in Monte Carlo<注4> to decide the host of the 2010 event. Joining us now is Mr. Wang Guangya, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs.

　　Y: Mr. Vice Minister, could you first brief us on Shanghai's applying to host the 2010 World Expo?

　　W: It is not Shanghai that is applying, but the Chinese government. It has been widely accepted by international community that the World Expo is the Olympics of economy, culture, science and technology. It provides an opportunity for people from different places to meet, to share and to make friends. It is also an important place for new ideas and new concepts to spread, grow and be applied to improve people's living standards. There is a long history between China and the World Expo. When the first Expo was held in London in 1851, some Chinese businessmen and merchants went all the way to London to participate in it. Ever since then, there have always been Chinese participants. China's famous liquor, Maotai, became well known in the World Expo in 1915 in Panama and won the gold prize in the event. Since the opening up and reform, China has been actively participating in different events of the World Expo wherever it was held. Now that China is enjoying fast economic growth, we want to host this event not only to boost the World Expo, but also to further enhance the understanding between the Chinese people and people all over the world and to strengthen the cooperative exchange between China and other countries.

　　Y: There's this opinion from outside China that Shanghai should not be considered for hosting the Expo because Beijing has already won the bid for the 2008 Olympics. What do you think of this?

　　W: I don't agree to this opinion for several reasons. First of all, Olympics differs from the Expo. They belong to different categories. Secondly, Whether to give a country the honor to host Olympics or World Expo all depends on the condition, advantage and capability of that country to host major international events. And I think that through opening up and reform, China's economy has developed to such an extent that now we are the 6th most powerful economy in the world. That the world has given Beijing this opportunity to host the Olympics proves that the international community has recog-nized China's ability to organize major international events. Thirdly, if you look at the history of the World Expo, there have been precedentsswheresa country is given the oppor-tunity to host both Olympics and World Expo at more or less the same time period.

　　Y: I've just read an article in New York Times that says " Shanghai is bulldozing<注5> away its past", meaning that skyscrapers are replacing the old houses insgroupsto turn the citysintosa modern one. The criticism is that the city's modernization is at the expense of the destruction of its cultural relics. How would you react to that?

　　W: Shanghai is a placeswhereswe Chinese and foreign visitors can see the reflection of culture not just of the east but also of the west. Also, thanks to Shanghai's tremendous economic growth over the last 20 years, par-ticularly since 1992, many of the city's historical sites have been restored and preserved with more care. If you look at the themes and sub-themes proposed by China and Shanghai municipal government, you will see the idea is to develop and introduce modern ideas as well as to preserve the cultural character of the Shanghai city.

　　Y: Many observers in international community have noticed China's emphasis on the balance between development and environment. Do you think Shanghai can be considered a model city in this sense?

　　W: You see, the theme of "better city" proposed by Shanghai is the first time to appear in the World Expo history. This shows that the Chinese government and the municipal government of Shanghai are clearly aware that to take "city" as the major theme is something that will find common ground with international community. In many countries bent on economic development, urbanization has become an issue. Of course, urbanization represents modernization. On the other hand, urbanization has its negative sides like traffic jams and pollution. Perhaps the World Expo, with its main theme on city life, is to bring all countries together to discuss how we can handle the problems, to demonstrate what we can do to eliminate the negative sides of urbanization. The problems are there. Many things have been done. I have visited Shanghai a number of times in recent years and I've seen those tremendous efforts made by the central government and the municipal government of Shanghai.

　　Y: Which of the other candidate cities do you think is the strongest rival as opposed to Shanghai?

　　W: Each has its unique culture, history and advantage. We take all the other five cities seriously. We have a lot to learn from them and we are ready to join in the competition.

　　Y: Regarding the recent visit by the BIE delegation to China, can you briefly tell us their comment on Shanghai's preparation?

　　W: I think the evaluation result is very good. They have sent their report to BIE with a lot of good words. They find that there's full support nationwide, full support in Shanghai. And they find that the preparations have wide coverage.

　　Y: If Shanghai won the bid, there's eight years from now. Do you think there's any chance that Shanghai would not get as much support from the government as it is promised now due to financial difficulties that might result between now and then?

　　W: I don't think that's possible. Over the last 20 years, with economic development in China, our country has witnessed social and political stability. If you also takesintosaccount that the Chinese government is a responsible government, that Chinese people are hospitable people, and if the world decides to give this opportunity to China, to Shanghai, the Chinese government will certainly honor our commitment and we will by all means try our best to make the Exposition in Shanghai the most memorable one.