Paris airport probe won't impact China theater

BEIJING, Feb. 19 (UPI) -- The findings that the collapse of a Paris airport terminal was due to design and structure faults won't impact the China National Grand Theater.

The China Times said the theater's safety would likely be re-examined because the theater and the Charles de Gaulle Airport terminal in Paris were designed by the same architect -- French designer Paul Andreu.

However, the proprietor committee of the theater denied it would reassess the project's safety, saying safety has always been a priority, Xinhua, China's main government-run news agency, reported Saturday.

"Around 70 percent of the project has been completed and it will continue to be built as planned," said committee spokesman Wang Zhengming.

The $328 million egg-shaped National Theater that will seat 6,000 is located near Beijing's Tiananmen Square and boosts an enormous glass and titanium tear-drop-like bubble structure surrounded by water.