Japan PM says to attend Beijing Olympic opening

By Linda Sieg

TOYAKO, Japan (Reuters) - In the latest sign of warming ties with China, Japan's prime minister said on Sunday that he would attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, which he saw as a sporting event, not a political one.

Human rights activists have called for world leaders to boycott the Olympics opening ceremony on Aug. 8 to protest China's record on civil rights.

China's crackdown on Tibet after deadly riots in March sparked worldwide protests over Beijing's policies, including demonstrations that disrupted the procession of the Olympics torch.

But Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, speaking after talks with U.S. President George W. Bush ahead of a Group of Eight rich nations' summit in northern Japan, said he would attend.

"There are many athletes going from Japan so it's natural that I want to cheer them on," he told a joint news conference in Hokkaido with U.S. President George W. Bush ahead of a July 7-9 summit of the Group of Eight rich nations.

"There is no need to involve politics. Even if China has various problems, they are in the midst of making efforts to improve them," he added.

Sino-Japanese ties have improved markedly in the past two years after a chill during the 2001-2006 tenure of then-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, partly because of the Japanese leader's visits to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine for war dead, seen in Beijing as a symbol of Japan's past militarism.

Fukuda met Chinese President Hu Jintao in Tokyo in May in high-profile talks to cement warming ties between the two Asian rivals, and they will chat again on the sidelines of the G8 gathering.