Mar 27, 2008, 18:16 GMT
Hamburg - China said on Thursday it was unconcerned that politicians may stay away from the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics in protest of China's crushing of unrest in Tibet.
Qin Gang, the spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told reporters in Beijing that the issue rests with the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and not China.
Qin said the NOCs are formally invited to the ceremony by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the organizing committee of the Beijing Games (BOCOG), and then themselves invite their respective heads of state or government to the ceremonies.
'Whether they accept the invitation or not is the responsibility of the NOC of each country,' said Qin.
The statement came the same day as Polish daily Dziennik reported that the nation's Prime Minister Donald Tusk will stay away from the August 8 opening ceremony because he considers the presence of politicians 'not suitable' under the circumstances.
Tusk is the first European head of government to make such an announcement. Staying away from the ceremonies has also been suggested by French President Nicolas Sarkozy if China continues to refuse a dialogue with the exiled spiritual leader of Tibet, the Dalai Lama.
Czech President Vaclav Klaus said on Wednesday that he would not attend the Games in Beijing while US President George W Bush said last week he will visit the Olympics despite the tensions.
Bush telephoned Chinese President Hu Jintao on Wednesday to express his concerns over Beijing's crackdown in Tibet, to talk to representatives of the Dalai Lama and allow access to Tibet for journalists and diplomats.
Former Swedish justice minister Thomas Bodstrom, meanwhile, on national television called for Swedish athletes to boycott the opening and closing ceremony of the Games.
He said such a move would 'send a very clear signal' to protest the ongoing violence in Tibet and other human rights violations in China.
Calls for action in protest of China's handling of the Tibet issue have still stopped short of an all out boycott - which is not wanted by the Dalai Lama or human rights organizations, and would mainly see the athletes suffer.
But a German member of Amnesty International, Dirk Pleiter, also called for a bigger involvement of sport.
'The sports federations are not thinking seriously about how the human rights situation in Tibet can be improved,' Pleiter told the Ruhr-Nachrichten daily.
'They simply believe that Olympic Games are an automatic force of good. That is irresponsible and naive.'
IOC president Jacques Rogge reiterated around Monday's lighting of the Olympic flame in ancient Olympia that a boycott of the Beijing games would only worsen the situation. The German Olympic Committee confirmed the same day it will send a team to Beijing.
'The IOC respects NGOs and activist groups and their causes, and speaks regularly with them - but we are neither a political nor an activist organization,' said Rogge.
On Thursday, in an interview with French sports daily L'Equipe, Rogge also dismissed the idea of staging the Olympics permanently in one city to diminish boycott threats in the future.
Rogge said that unlike the ancient Olympics - all held in ancient Olympia - economic as well as philosophical reasons were behind the permanent change of host cities in the modern era.
'The flame must travel,' Rogge said.
Rogge named the legacy of Olympic Games for the host country a vital aspect and also said that interest in the Olympics could drop considerably if they were held at the same place every four years.
'And do you believe that 25,000 journalists would attend the Games if they were held at the same place every four years? The people want to get to know other cities, other continents,' Rogge said.
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