Leaders Split Over Beijing Opening Ceremony

The opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympics has become a political hot potato with the world’s leaders split on whether to attend the Games’ official opening in response to China’s human rights record.

French president Nicolas Sarkozy has announced that he will join his US counterpart George Bush in attending the opening ceremony in contrast to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and German Chancellor Angela Merkel who are both staying away.

The latter two national leaders have been joined by Hans-Gert Poettering, the head of the European Parliament, who blamed a ‘lack of progress’ in talks between China and representatives of Tibetan leader Dalai Lama for his decision not to travel to China for the 8th August ceremony.

French president Sarkozy has announced that he would represent the EU at the ceremony as France holds the rotating presidency of the 27-member bloc.

However EU lawmakers slammed Sarkozy’s decision, which the French leader announced to Chinese President Hu Jintao at a G8 summit in Japan, stating that ‘Europe has capitulated’ on the Tibet issue.

Sarkozy’s decision comes after he openly threatened to boycott the Olympic opening ceremony only a few months ago following the Chinese crackdown in Tibet in March which prompted worldwide outrage.

China’s actions also led to the Olympic Torch Relay being beset by political and violent protests as it made its way around the world.