FACTBOX: World leaders to attend Olympics opening in Beijing

(Reuters) - French President Nicholas Sarkozy will attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, representing his country and the European Union, his office said on Wednesday.

The announcement ends weeks of speculation sparked by Sarkozy's comments that his attendance depended on progress in talks between China's government and representatives of Tibet's exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.

Foreign leaders' attendance at the August 8-24 Beijing Games has become a closely-watched issue, as rights groups have urged leaders to boycott them to protest 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 have said they will attend the opening ceremonies:

- WILL ATTEND:

AUSTRALIA - Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

CAMBODIA - King Norodom Sihamoni.

CROATIA - President Stjepan Mesic.

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.

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.

VIETNAM - President Nguyen Minh Triet.

- WILL NOT ATTEND:

Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou. Thomas Tsai, president of the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee, will attend.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will only attend closing ceremony.

(Compiled by David Cutler and Gillian Murdoch)

(For more stories visit our multimedia website "Road to Beijing" here; and see our blog at blogs.reuters.com/china)