Opinion polls conducted by sina.com in the internet showed that 88 percent of respondents said that they viewed Sarkozy as “extremely unfriendly”, while an equivalent proportion said they do not welcome his presence at the opening ceremony.

To most ordinary Chinese, the question is not who will attend, but we want to welcome.

Of course Bush knows first hand who’s behind the anti-China campaign.
The question he must be asking is whether the campaign has generated any interests outside CIA’s traditional allies. In pushing the confrontation too far, US risk revealing its own unpopularity at the world stage. Imagine Bush were to boycott the opening ceremony while everyone of his Asian ally including Japan, Australia and India attends. That will be really embarrassing.

CIA/Dalai’ s strength is in creating media sensation. There are rumors that they ve recruited individual athletes and spectators to carry separatist flags into the Olympic venue. This will trigger off commotion with the security. These individuals also risk being beaten up by ordinary Chinese. Western media will broadcast them live to the world claiming that plain cloth Chinese police beat up innocent athletes or spectators.

The other problem that I expect to see is that the French athletes may be subjected to some verbal abuse by Chinese spectators. If they perform badly they will put their blame on the Olympic host, triggering another round of China bashing or walkout.