German Leader to Skip Olympic Opening Ceremony

PASSAU, Germany, March 28, 2008 — -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel will not attend the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, but her spokesman was quick to explain that the decision was not connected with China's crackdown on dissidents in Tibet.

The chancellor's decision was announced today by Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier at a meeting with his European counterparts in Brdo, Slovenia today.

But in Berlin, Merkel's spokesman, Thomas Steg, has told reporters that her decision did not represent a boycott over the Chinese government's handling of the Tibet issue.

Another spokesman for Merkel, Hanns-Christian Catenhusen, insisted in a telephone interview with ABC News, "The chancellor had made it clear even before the unrest in Tibet that she wasn't going to go to China for the Olympic Games. She won't be going to Beijing before October, when a bilateral meeting with her Chinese counterparts is scheduled."

It is not clear why the German foreign minister, who has been critical of Merkel's recent meeting with the Dalai Lama, raised the issue.

Relations between China and Germany were seriously damaged when Merkel received the Dalai Lama at the chancellery in Berlin in September 2007 — the first time a German leader agreed to meet with him — despite vehement protests from Beijing.

Chinese officials had even called on Germany not to allow the Dalai Lama to enter the country.

Merkel, however, had insisted on receiving the exiled Tibetan leader, stressing the importance of defending human rights and meeting dissidents.

She later described the hourlong meeting as "private and informal talks" at which she had assured the Dalai Lama of her support for his efforts to maintain the cultural identity of Tibet and for his policy of nonviolent striving toward religious and cultural autonomy.

The Chinese government was furious with Berlin over the Dalai Lama's visit and suspended most high-level contacts as well as several important bilateral meetings that had been in the planning for some time.

While most Germans reacted positively to Merkel's decision not to give in to pressure to cancel the meeting, it was Steinmeier who attacked her after she met with the Dalai Lama.