Hashimoto at helm of 2020 Tokyo Games
JAPAN’S Seiko Hashimoto, a woman who has competed in seven Olympics, said yesterday she had been chosen as president of the Tokyo 2020 Organizing committee, replacing a man who resigned after setting off a furore with sexist remarks.
Yoshiro Mori, 83 and a former prime minister, resigned as Tokyo 2020 president last week after saying women talk too much, a fresh blow to an event already marred by an unprecedented delay of a year due to the coronavirus pandemic and strong public opposition.
Hashimoto announced her selection shortly after submitting her resignation as cabinet minister to Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who encouraged her to make the Olympics successful.
“I, Seiko Hashimoto, was selected as head of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics organizing committee,” Hashimoto told a meeting in which she was chosen as the new chief.
“As I’m taking on such a grave responsibility... I feel I need to brace myself.”
Hashimoto faces a raft of tough issues, including taking the helm of one of the world’s biggest sporting events with less than half a year left until its start as well as making sure athletes and officials are kept safe from the coronavirus.
Born days before Japan hosted the 1964 summer Games, Hashimoto took part in four Winter Olympics as a speed skater and three Summer Olympics as a cyclist. Her name comes from a Chinese character used for the Olympic flame, and she lived up to it, ultimately took part in the most Olympics of any Japanese woman. The highest medal she received was a bronze in speed skating at the 1992 Albertville Winter Games.
A 56-year-old lawmaker in Japan’s ruling party, Hashimoto served as the Olympics minister, doubling as minister for women’s empowerment, since 2019 until resigning yesterday.
Suga is likely to name Tamayo Marukawa, a former television announcer and ruling party lawmaker, to Hashimoto’s post, NHK television said. Marukawa, 50, previously held the job for about a year.
Mori resigned last Friday after causing an international outcry by saying during a committee meeting that women talk too much, comments that a top Tokyo 2020 executive said yesterday had caused “indescribable damage.”
THE State Council has agreed to a draft guideline submitted by the National Development and Reform Commission for the development of the Hongqiao Central Business District in the latest step to further opening-up and connectivity with neighboring regions.
It has asked local authorities in Shanghai and neighboring Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces to standardize working mechanisms and draw up detailed rules to make sure targets are achieved timely, said a statement posted on the official website of the Chinese government yesterday.
New policies and major construction projects in the planning and construction of the Hongqiao hub will be reviewed accordingly, according to a State Council release dated February 4.
The draft rule sets a target for Hongqiao to become an important growth engine for high-quality regional economic development by 2022 and an international open hub by 2025.
It aims to build Hongqiao into an international urban area as well as an open hub with an improved ecological environment that can lead to the higher-quality integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta region.
The guidelines fall under five core concepts — creativity, coordination, environment friendliness, openness and sharing. The implementation of the development guidelines should seek higher-quality integrated development of the area and enhance its ability to connect with the Yangtze River Delta region and overseas areas.
The State Council said it would coordinate on the implementation of the guidelines.
CONSTRUCTION began on a batch of major projects in north Shanghai’s Baoshan District yesterday to turn several former key industrial sites into science and innovation centers.
The 30 projects with a total investment of 20 billion yuan (US$3.09 billion) will help convert the Wusong area, known as the cradle of China’s modern industry, into an “innovation city,” and the Nanda area, once a notorious industrial site with myriad pollution problems, into a “smart city.”
The district, once known for its iron and steel industry, aims to develop three major industrial parks centered on biomedicine, science and technology, and robotics between 2021 and 2023.
Three pilot zones, of a square kilometer each, will be initially developed at the Wusong and Nanda projects. A science and innovation pilot zone in Nanda aims to attract 7.6 billion yuan in investment this year. Office buildings covering some 274,000 square meters will be built to be home to financial services, research incubation and scientific firms, according to the district government.
The other two pilot zones, with total investment of 13.6 billion yuan this year, have launched constructions within Wusong Smart City.
In a key project, a vaccine production line developed by Shanghai Pharma and CanSino with a total investment of 400 million yuan, will be able to produce 200 million shots of COVID-19 vaccine a year.
A Medipark project, developed by Guosheng Industrial Transformation Capital, is scheduled to open in September 2022 in Luodian Town, which dates back to the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368).
It will cover 130,000 square meters and house around 100 biomedical companies, with total annual tax revenue of more than 100 million yuan. The annual production value will be more than a billion yuan, and 1,000 people are expected to work there.
The project’s first phase will focus on biomedical products, medical equipment and new medicines.
The Baoshan Robotic Innovation Harbor, with total investment of 650 million yuan, will focus on the high-end intelligent manufacturing to become a cluster zone for China’s robotic sectors.