Prime Minister Stephen Harper will not be attending the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China this August.

But don’t call the move a boycott.

According to a Globe and Mail report, Harper criticized China’s human-rights record but insisted that his decision to miss the opening ceremonies was not made in reaction to public pressure.

In mid March, mass demonstrations in Tibet were met with a violent crackdown by Chinese authorities. Since then, leaders around the world have been pressured to boycott China’s Olympics and take a stand on the country’s questionable record on human rights.

Speaking at a press conference at a NATO summit in Romania, Harper said, “I don’t have, and have not had any plans to attend the opening ceremonies myself, but we are still planning to have high level government representation,” according to an AFP report published on the Yahoo! Canada News Web site.

Harper did not elaborate on why he does not plan to attend the opening ceremonies.

The Conservative prime minister claimed that the move is not political, but there is little question that Beijing will not see it as such—especially with Canada playing host to the Games in 2010.

A world leader’s attendance—or nonattendance—at an Olympic Games’ opening ceremonies sends a strong signal. Harper has criticized China’s human-rights record in the past and did so again on April 3. Furthermore, repeated calls by advocates of Tibet around the world have left little room for politicians to make apolitical moves around the Beijing Games.

If Harper thinks that his absence from Beijing’s opening ceremonies can be played off as a simple scheduling conflict, he is approaching international relations with China with a dangerously naive attitude.

It is more likely that Harper is sending a clear signal to China that he has taken a stand on the country’s human-rights record, knowing full well that China can and likely will reciprocate in 2010.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk have also stated that they will not attend the opening ceremonies. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has hinted that he will do the same.

Hans-Gert Pöttering, president of the European Parliament, has gone even further and suggested that the European Union should consider a total boycott of the 2008 Games.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and U.S. President George W. Bush have publicly stated that they will attend the opening ceremonies, although Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said that Bush should consider an opening-ceremonies boycott.

See also:

VANOC and Olympic athletes' apologist stance borders on obsequiousness
Tibet support groups ask IOC president Jacques Rogge to make a statement