FACTBOX - World leaders to attend Olympics opening in Beijing
(Reuters) - Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf cancelled his scheduled visit to China on Wednesday, two days before he was to attend the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony, a member of his entourage said.
The visit was cancelled as opponents in the country's coalition government consulted over his possible impeachment.
More than 80 state leaders and royals are expected to attend Friday's opening ceremony. Attendance is a closely watched issue, as rights groups have urged leaders to boycott the Games in protest against China's crackdown on May riots in Tibet and its ties with the government in Sudan.
Here is a preliminary list of world leaders who are expected to attend, and not attend, the opening ceremony:
- WILL ATTEND:
AFGHANISTAN - President Hamid Karzai
AUSTRALIA - Prime Minister Kevin Rudd
BRAZIL - President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva
CAMBODIA - King Norodom Sihamoni
COOK ISLANDS - Head of State Frederick Goodwin
CROATIA - President Stjepan Mesic
FIJI - Interim Prime Minister Commodore Frank Bainimarama
FINLAND - Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen
FRANCE - President Nicolas Sarkozy
JAPAN - Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda
MAURITIUS - President Sir Anerood Jugnauth.
MALAYSIA - King Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin, and Queen Tuanku Nur Zahirah
NETHERLANDS - Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende
NORWAY - King Harald V and Queen Sonja Haraldsen
RUSSIA - Prime Minister Vladimir Putin
SAMOA - Head of State Tuiatua Tupua Tamasese Efi
SINGAPORE - President S. R. Nathan and Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew
SOUTH KOREA - President Lee Myung-bak
SWITZERLAND - President Pascal Couchepin
THAILAND - Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej, and Crown Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn
UNITED STATES - President George W. Bush. A seven-member delegation led by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will attend the closing ceremony.
VANUATU - President Kalkot Mataskelekele
VIETNAM - President Nguyen Minh Triet
- WILL NOT ATTEND:
BRITAIN - Prime Minister Gordon Brown. He will attend closing ceremony.
CANADA - Prime Minister Stephen Harper
CZECH REPUBLIC - Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek will miss the opening ceremony, but attend the Games later.
GERMANY - Chancellor Angela Merkel
INDIA - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Sports Minister S. Gill will attend. India's ruling Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi has been invited to the opening ceremony, according to local media reports.
ITALY - Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi
NEW ZEALAND - Prime Minister Helen Clark. Governor-General Anand Satyanand will attend.
NORTH KOREA - President Kim Jong-il. Second in command, Kim Yong-nam, will attend.
PAKISTAN - President Pervez Musharraf
POLAND - Prime Minister Donald Tusk
TAIWAN - President Ma Ying-jeou. Thomas Tsai, president of the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee, will attend.
UNITED NATIONS - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
Sources: Reuters, Xinhua
(Compiled by David Cutler and Gillian Murdoch)
