
Australia PM to attend Olympics, critics fume
Australia's Mandarin-speaking Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said on Thursday he would attend the Beijing Olympics, ignoring human rights activists' demands that he boycott the event over China's Tibet crackdown.
Rudd, a former diplomat who served in Beijing and who has been accused at home and abroad of being too close to China, said attending the Games was the "right thing to do".
"I'm pretty relaxed about going. It's the Chinese government (who) have extended an invitation. The Australian Olympic Committee has been supportive of the decision," Rudd told reporters after an Australian team reception in Canberra.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has refused to rule out the possibility he could boycott the August 8 opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics if China does not make more effort to resolve unrest in Tibet.
Rudd said he was unaware of any diplomatic tension over his decision and quipped that the closest he had ever come to competitive sport as a bookish young diplomat in Beijing was in a local expatriate cricket team.
"There were only 12 Australians in China at the time and I was selected as 12th man (reserve). As our captain said, I never troubled the scorekeepers much," Rudd said.
"Australians love sport. Australians love the Olympics and Australians love Australian sportsmen and women representing their country at the Olympics."
China recently overtook Japan as Australia's biggest trading partner and the country is Canberra's biggest customer for energy and mineral exports, with two-way trade worth A$52 billion ($49 billion) in 2007.
The China-driven boom has rocketed Australians from 15th place in the world in terms of GDP per capita in 1992 to seventh.
Australian Greens Senator Bob Brown said Rudd had turned his back on Tibetans by agreeing to attend the Games opening ceremony, as well as shooting, women's basketball, cycling and diving events.
"It's the wrong thing to do, it's not the right thing to do. The pollution of Beijing strong-arm politics has reached the prime minister's office," Brown said.

In inaugural address, Joe Biden will appeal to national unity

Far-right personality 'Baked Alaska' arrested in Capitol riot probe

Egypt unveils 3000-year old coffins in latest archaeological discovery

Law enforcement officials brace for pro-Trump protests at state capitols

Explained: Why Kremlin critic Navalny faces immediate arrest in Russia?

Dutch PM Mark Rutte and his entire cabinet quits over welfare scandal
- The Netherlands is the third European country thrown into political uncertainty this week in the midst of the coronavirus crisis.

Brazil regulator to decide on emergency use of Sinovac, AstraZeneca vaccines

US military says its troop removal from Somalia is complete

Cargo ship sinks in the Black Sea; 3 dead, 6 rescued

Kamala Harris to resign from Senate seat on Monday ahead of Inauguration Day

Israel Prison Service to start vaccinating inmates, including Palestinian ones

Donald Trump pushed the limits of the US legal system: Here’s how it held up

Avoid 'absurd nonsense' about Tehran's nuclear work: Iran's Zarif tells France

Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny takes off on plane to Russia despite arrest threat
