国内英语新闻:Chinese Vice Premier stresses safety of venue construction for Beijing 2022

BEIJING, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng has stressed that construction of the venues and infrastructure related to the 2022 Winter Olympic Games should be safe and on schedule.

Han, who is also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and head of a leading group overseeing the Beijing 2022 preparations, made the remarks on Wednesday during an inspection tour of the Beijing 2022 Organizing Committee headquarters in a western suburb of Beijing.

Han called for more efforts in quality control and safety inspection to ensure all Olympic-related projects "stand up to historical tests".

Han added that the construction work should also move forward in accordance with the schedule to ensure the hosting of test events.

Competition venues for Beijing 2022 are split into three clusters, with curling, ice hockey and skating events due to be held in urban Beijing.

The Yanqing venue cluster, which lies between Beijing and Zhangjiakou, is set to stage Alpine skiing, bobsled, luge and skeleton, while Chongli in Zhangjiakou is the planned site for freestyle skiing, snowboarding, cross-country, Nordic combined, ski jumping and biathlon events.

According to the Beijing 2022 Organizing Committee, construction has begun at the Yanqing venue cluster, and underground construction has been completed at the National Speed Skating Oval, the speed skating venue which is nicknamed the "Ice Ribbon" due to the pattern included in its design.

China has pledged to encourage 300 million people to participate in winter sports ahead of the 2022 Games.

Han also urged the sports sector to make continued efforts to expand participation in winter sports across China.

The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics is due to take place between February 4 and 20 with the Paralympics following on March 4.