Beijing Olympic bid organizers promised today to lift all restrictions on the media and improve human rights if the Chinese capital is awarded the 2008 Summer Games.
Smiling and joking at a news conference the day before an International Olympic Committee (IOC) vote on the host city, a slick team of English-speaking officials deftly answered questions about Tibet, press freedom and the death penalty.
"I think we will give the media complete freedom to report when they come to China," said Mr Wang Wei, secretary-general of the Beijing bid committee.
"We are confident that the Games coming to China not only promotes our economy but also enhances all social conditions, including education, health and human rights," he said.
Their performance was a marked contrast to Beijing's campaign for the 2000 Olympics in 1993, when stony-faced bid officials cut short questions on human rights and stumbled when pressed on the issue.
With memories of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre still fresh in the air, they lost to Sydney by two votes that year.
This time, Beijing is widely tipped to beat rivals Paris, Toronto, Osaka and Istanbul despite growing opposition from human rights critics and Tibetan independence activists who draw parallels with the 1936 Berlin Games in Nazi Germany.