The Science and Technology Committee of the 2008 Olympic Games launched a new website to promote the theme “High Tech Olympics” (ÁßëÊäÄ••Ëøê). On one level, this is simply an effort to showcase China’s technological achievements. But the theme “High Tech Olympics” is also designed to address other concerns. Committee Vice-Chair Deng Nan (ÈÇìÊ•†, daughter of Deng Xiaoping) emphasized that a concrete goal would be to reduce the cost of hosting the games.
This attention to cost comes as new questions are raised about the financing of infrastructure improvements to Beijing before 2008. In the China Daily, Ba Shusong (巴曙松), an economist affiliated with the State Council, argues that public financing has already been overstretched, and that some infrastructure development should be privatized to avoid tax increases.
