ZHANG Baifa, the charismatic deputy mayor of Beijing, has a tendency to shoot from the hip.
Unfortunately, when he took aim at the United States Congress on Friday for its opposition to his city's bid to host the 2000 Olympics, he only succeeded in shooting himself in the foot.
Mr Zhang's threat to boycott the 1996 Games in Atlanta should Beijing's bid be thwarted by political pressure from the US, has caused consternation in international sporting circles and dismay in his home town.
''What a cretin! How could he say that,'' fumed a Beijing businessman who hopes to cash in on the economic opportunities which would accrue from winning the bid. ''He's really stuffed it up this time.'' The deputy mayor's colleagues at the bid committee's headquarters were none to happy either, immediately putting out a statement there was no question of a boycott.
But the real anger in government circles, insiders said, was not because Mr Zhang had got it wrong (again) but because he had leaked what amounted to a state secret.
There is a contingency plan, sources say, to boycott Atlanta but only as a last resort and on no account was that contingency to be made public, certainly not one week before the crucial International Olympic Commission vote in Monte Carlo.
''The government has been discussing a whole range of possible response measures to not winning the 2000 Games and not going to Atlanta has been mentioned,'' a source close to the bid committee said yesterday.