Japan Not To Boycott The Olympics

There have been concerns about whether Japan would boycott the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

The IOC have confirmed that Japan will not boycott the 2008 Beijing Olympics, despite security concerns following massive anti-Japan demonstrations in China last month.

Boycotts are now a thing of the past, according to IOC Coordination Commission Vice President Kevan Gosper.

Gosper said that the two countries can settle their differences through political channels.

On April 18, after a string of anti-Japan demonstrations in Beijing and other Chinese cities, Chinese State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan asked Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura about rumors that Japanese athletes would shun the Games.

Machimura told Tang there was no boycott plan, but that vandalism during the April demonstrations "prompts worries" about whether the Olympics can be held in an orderly manner.

Concerns also surfaced after Chinese people broke a Japanese diplomat's car window and struck journalists, after China lost to Japan last August in the Asian Football Confederation final in Beijing.