For APEC meeting, China orders up a quiet, clean Beijing

APEC

A thousand new facial-recognition cameras are watching for potential troublemakers. Kite-flying has become a jailable offense in some areas. Factories have been ordered to cut back or suspend production. And those are just part of China’s efforts to clear Beijing of dangers, dissent and smog during an international meeting deemed the capital’s biggest event since the 2008 Olympics.

Ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum that opened Wednesday, city crews also have replaced 450,000 flower pots, swept newsstands and breakfast kiosks from some neighborhoods and encouraged — or warned — many residents, and especially dissidents, to leave town.

Government workers get a long holiday, and authorities eager to ease congestion are taking the unusual measure of deploying cargo trains to carry the cars of holiday celebrators out of the capital.

Though there will be far fewer visitors to the city than there were during the Olympics, APEC will again throw an international spotlight on China with the arrival of top leaders from the Pacific Rim along with their countries’ media.

Government workers get a six-day holiday from Nov. 7-12, but will be required to work an additional Saturday and Sunday to partly compensate. Schools and kindergartens will close, and people will be unable to register marriages.

People are also being encouraged to leave town. Beijing’s railway bureau is deploying cargo trains that can carry passenger cars, so that travelers can take their vehicles with them on holiday without clogging up highways out of the capital. The fees will be roughly the same as fuel and tolls for the trip, the bureau said.

This story was compiled with information from the Associated Press.


Officials say upcoming APEC forum ready to open

APEC senior officials gathered in Beijing for their fourth and final meeting on Wednesday before the international forum for leaders of Asia-Pacific countries opens Nov. 5-11.

Officials are confident that they have finalized a package of growth-enhancing measures that will be discussed during the APEC leader’s meeting during the last two days of the forum. CCTV America’s Zhang Nini reported the story from Beijing.

Chairman of the APEC senior officials meeting Li Baodong said he is confident that the forum will improve economic integration among members.

A focal point in discussion will be the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific initiative that aims to improve regional economic integration. The proposed initiative is currently being endorsed in principle, and studies of the plan have begun.

Some have compared the proposed initiative with the U.S.-backed Transpacific Partnership in which China is not a member.

Senior APEC officials also commended China’s efforts to launch an anti-graft initiative. A final version of the Beijing Declaration on Fighting Corruption will be submitted at the APEC forum for endorsement.


Alan Bollard of APEC discusses regional trade and anti-corruption efforts in China

CCTV America interviewed Alan Bollard, executive director of the APEC Secretariat about on the timeline for an agreement for the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific. He also discussed how the upcoming APEC meeting will aid anti-corruption efforts in China.


Jeffrey Heller discusses architecture in China

Beijing, the host city of the upcoming APEC meetings is home to some of the most unique buildings in the world.

China’s recent building boom has led some to claim it an architect’s experimental laboratory, but some critics, including China’s president Xi Jinping, want to prevent the construction of more unusual-looking structures.

For more about architecture in China, CCTV America interviewed Jeffrey Heller, president of Heller Manus Architects in San Francisco who has worked on several projects in China.

Read all our reports on APEC.