After visiting South Korea and Thailand, Mr Bush will attend the Olympic Games opening ceremony in Beijing, having rejected repeated calls by activists to boycott the Games over China's human rights record.

His attendance will test his vow to keep politics out of the Games.

Mr Bush, who plans to be in China from Thursday until Monday, said last week, ''I made a decision not to politicise the Games: this is for athletics. There's plenty of time for politics, and I'm confident I'll have time for politics.''

A sports fan, Mr Bush will attend a basketball game between the star-studded United States team and China and his schedule is unusually flexible, apparently to allow him to follow competitions as he chooses.

He plans to ride his mountain bike on the Olympic trail and said he was not concerned about Beijing's pollution.

But, with the world's eyes watching the Olympics, human rights groups and US legislators hope the US leader will use the event to press Chinese leaders to give their people more freedom.

Mr Bush has repeatedly said in public that he raises the human rights question every time he speaks with Chinese President Hu Jintao, and the two are scheduled to hold talks.

He has angered China by becoming the first US president to appear publicly with the Dalai Lama, and recently met exiled Chinese dissidents. AFP