China’s Air Pollution Obstacle to Winter Olympic Bid
Posted 2019/2/27
Over the past week the air pollution has been exceptionally bad in Beijing, almost on the same level as last January. Not only are high levels of air pollution bad for the health of the capital’s citizens and their happiness, it is also bad for the international image of China as a whole. Many major publications worldwide have spoken out against the pollution that has blanketed around 1.4 million square meters of China’s North East over the past week. American publications Discovery, Germany’s Der Spiegel, Korea’s MBC TV station, Business Week in the US and Britain’s BBC website are among just some of these. It now looks as though bouts of air pollution such as this recent one will hamper China’s bid for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. Beijing announced during this month’s games in Sochi its intentions of launching an official bid that, if successful, will see the games take place in Beijing and Zhangjiakou. However, to even be considered, the government has to work on the high PM2.5 levels that have plagued the nation over the past few years. Right now they plan on lowering the count by 25% by 2017, when the host city will be announced, although even this might not be enough.
