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CHINA'S bid for the 2000 Olympics will not influence the way the country handles its human rights affairs, He Zhenliang, the head of China's Olympic Committee, said yesterday.

  Addressing the Foreign Correspondents' Club of China, Mr He said China would need to make improvements to organise a successful Olympiad. Asked if these improvements included human rights, Mr He said he was referring primarily to technical matters.

  ''Our bid committee is concerned only with our bid affairs. It is not concerned with any other methods,'' he said.

  Any releases of prisoners, either now or in the future, were strictly a matter of Chinese judicial process, rather than an attempt to change public opinion abroad, he said.

  ''Maybe in the course of the coming months, just like in the recent months, someone will be released . . . If there is someone released, it will be according to our law,'' Mr He said.

  Citing human rights concerns, the US Congress has voiced opposition to Beijing holding the games. The Chinese have accused Washington of trying to politicise the Olympics.

  He was asked whether Sino-US relations would be hurt should Beijing fail to win the Olympics.

  ''The choice of the venue . . . is the authority of the International Olympic Committee. We will respect the decision of the International Olympic Committee if this decision is made in full autonomy and independence,'' Mr He said.

  At the same time, China was angry with American attempts to influence the IOC's decision-making process.

   ''I'm totally against that because it's an infringement of the Olympic principles and that's unacceptable,'' Mr He said.

  ''No country is perfect. Even the United States and other countries have their own problem of human rights.

   ''Is this a reason for other countries to deny the right of staging the Olympic Games in Atlanta, or other American cities?''   Mr He said the Chinese bid committee had asked for senior Chinese officials to attend the September meeting in Monte Carlo, where the venue for the 2000 Games will be decided.

   It is not clear which Chinese officials will attend. So far, Premier Li has failed to follow in the footsteps of British Prime Minister John Major, who will go to Monte Carlo to support Manchester's bid.

  Mr He said Beijing expects to have a net profit of US$120 million (HK$930.50 million) from the Olympics, of which 10 per cent would go to the IOC and the rest to a fund for developing sports in third world countries.

  In preparation for the games, China is spending US$3.4 billion on upgrading telecommunications in Beijing and US$50 billion for the country as a whole.



Games chief brushes aside human rights link to bid