China's pollution ‘very, very bad’ as Olympics near: EU

The air quality in China is ‘very, very bad’ and EU officials have made proposals to Beijing on how to improve the situation ahead of next year's Olympic Games, a spokeswoman said Thursday."We are talking to the (Olympic) organisers, we have already proposed certain measures" to alleviate the situation, said Barbara Helfferich, spokeswoman for European Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas.While not giving any details of the proposals delivered during "informal" discussions, the spokeswoman added that the Chinese government "is in the process of improving the situation" in Beijing and other cities.Helfferich stressed that the EU's executive arm "doesn't have any mandate or any way of meddling in the organisation of the games".Beijing 2008 Olympic organisers said Thursday they were confident that athletes would compete in clean air next year despite revelations that events could be postponed because of pollution."We are well aware of the challenges but we are confident that air quality will be good for the Olympics," organising committee spokesman Sun Weide told AFP.He was speaking in response to comments from International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge on Wednesday that events could be rescheduled at the Games if pollution was extremely bad.China's communist leaders have also come under fire recently from dissidents and foreign critics who say Beijing is flouting the humanitarian ideals of the Olympic charters with continued human rights abuses and political repression.Christiane Hohmann, spokeswoman for the EU's External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner, quizzed on concerns over China's human rights record, said Brussels was "watching the clampdown as far as human rights are concerned... at the moment"."This is something we voice our concerns regularly with the Chinese and we also use other diplomatic means of demarches vis a vis the Chinese government," Hohmann added.China on Wednesday held a spectacular celebration at massive Tiananmen Square to usher in the final year to the 2008 Olympics, which begin August 8, 2008.