President Bush on Sunday defended his decision to attend next month's Olympics opening ceremony in Beijing, saying that to boycott "would be an affront to the Chinese people."
President Bush speaks with Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda at a Sunday news conference in Toyako, Japan.
Speaking to reporters ahead of this week's summit of the Group of Eight industrialized nations in Japan, Bush said he did not need to skip the ceremony to show his position on religious freedom and human rights in China.
He said if he failed to attend the Games it would "make it more difficult to be able to speak more frankly with the Chinese leadership."
Bush said he would raise concerns when he meets Chinese President Hu Jintao at the Olympics, but he was also "looking forward to cheering the U.S. athletes." He said it was good for them "to see their president waving that flag."
It's telling that Bush is more worried about offending the Chinese (one of the worst human rights records in the world) than going to watch some sports. The value of his boycotting the games is likely too hard for him to figure out. The concept requires words of more than one to two syllables.
And it's not like his administration has the best human rights record out there, anyway...
Technorati Tags: Politics, Bush, China, G8, Guantanamo Bay, Human Rights
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