Japan to not send government delegation to Beijing Olympics

Japanese athletes will take part in the Games beginning February 4 as scheduled

Japan announced on December 24 it won't send a delegation of ministers to represent the government at the Beijing Games but three Olympic officials will attend, a mixed response to a U.S.-led move to boycott the games to protest China's human rights conditions.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told a regular news conference that “We have no plans to send a government delegation.”

He said Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee President Seiko Hashimoto, Japanese Olympic Committee President Yasuhiro Yamashita and Kazuyuki Mori, the president of the Japan Paralympic Committee, will attend.