On September 1, the Standing Committee of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee held a meeting to discuss the Plan for Improving Beijing's Role as the Center for International Exchanges during the 14th Five-Year Plan Period and the Guiding Opinions on Reinforcing Efforts of Building Beijing into a Resilient City. Cai Qi, Secretary of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee, presided over the meeting.
During the meeting, the Committee discussed the Plan for Improving Beijing's Role as the Center for International Exchanges during the 14th Five-Year Plan Period, and pointed out that we should improve coordination and implementation of the Plan, and continue to strengthen the development of both software and hardware, thus further improving Beijing's role as the center for international exchanges. The tasks are as follows:
Focus on serving the country's overall diplomacy and provide quality services for major state-level events assigned by the central government. The key task this year is to ensure the success of the Winter Olympics and Paralympics.
Optimize the spatial layout of "One Core, Two Axes, and Multiple Areas" and improve the overall carrying capacity. We should improve the landscaping in key locations of the core area, strengthen the spatial layout of the "two axes", formulate and implement the Plan for Beijing South Central Axis Area, and leverage the resource advantages of each district to create a number of sites suited for international exchanges.
Follow closely the progress of major projects, with focus on the construction of Beijing Yanqi Lake International Conference Resort, the Fourth Embassy Zone, China International Exhibition Center Shunyi New Hall (Phrase II & III), and the International Exhibition Center of Beijing Daxing International Airport Economic Zone, as well as smooth operation of Universal Beijing Resort.
Make the city more international by tapping into the "two zones" policies and the "three forums".
Gather high-end international factors to attract influential international organizations to open offices in Beijing.
Cultivate the brand of "Beijing Service" by improving public services in such areas as international schools, international hospitals and international talent communities, so as to create an international environment with global appeal.
We should keep to the bottom line thinking and firmly hold the bottom line of safety.
During the meeting, the Committee studied on the Guiding Opinions on Reinforcing Efforts to Build Beijing into a Resilient City. The Committee pointed out that resilient city has emerged as a new paradigm for urban safety development. We should study to understand the operating rules of capital cities and megacities, put the development of a resilient city high on the agenda, and effectively enhance safe operation of the city.
We should combine the requirements of resilient city with the management and development of urban planning, avoid areas of high disaster risks, make plans for disaster prevention and safety facilities, and build evacuation and emergency shelters. We should optimize the spatial layout of urban "hardware" to ensure enough space, flexibility and reserves for urban development.
We should focus on the core area of the capital city, and improve its capacities for disaster prevention and mitigation in accordance with the regulatory plan. We should strengthen the support from security facilities and guarantee systems in peripheral areas. We should deliver a coordinated and comprehensive response, fully considering all types of disasters and accidents that we may encounter. We should improve the emergency response plan for extreme weather, destructive earthquakes, severe epidemics, and major accidents in urban lifelines. We should improve the management of mining areas and tailings ponds.
We should improve both the hardware and software of resilient city, ensure smooth switch of large-scale public facilities between the peace-time mode and the war-time mode, and guarantee the safety of urban lifelines including water, electricity, oil, gas and heat supply.
We should make reasonable planning and strictly control strategic land reservation for future use and build more emergency shelters. We should further improve the emergency response mechanism, establish collaborative emergency response and service networks at community level, and organize more emergency drills.
We should build social resilience, improve public awareness for emergency response through promotion campaigns, and ensure timely information release.
We should adopt project-based methods to integrate the building of resilient city into urban renewal and renovation of old communities.
The meeting also discussed other issues.
(Reporters: Qi Mengzhu, Fan Junsheng)
