Enlarge By Evan Vucci, AP President Bush, left, and Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda arrive for a press conference Sunday at the lakeside resort of Toyako, Japan. TOYAKO, Japan  President Bush on Sunday defended his decision to attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games next month, saying that skipping the event "would be an affront to the Chinese people." Bush said that he "doesn't need the Olympics to express my concerns" about China's human rights record, something he said he has consistently done in past meetings with Chinese leaders. In Beijing next month, he intends to cheer on U.S. athletes. "It's an athletic event," he said. Bush made the comments in a press conference here with Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda on the eve of the annual Group of Eight summit of industrialized nations. Fukuda also ended speculation by declaring that he would attend the Aug. 8 opening of the Games. Some human rights groups have called for world leaders to boycott the ceremony to protest China's repression of dissidents and its support for pariah states Burma and Sudan. "You don't have to link the Olympics to politics," Fukuda said. "I would not like the Chinese to become unhappy. We are neighbors, after all." Meeting in a resort on the northern Japanese island Hokkaido, the leaders of the G8 nations — the United States, Japan, Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia, Canada and Italy — will work through a packed three-day agenda covering topics such as: •Global warming •Soaring energy and food prices •Economic uncertainty following the collapse of the U.S. housing market • The nuclear programs of North Korea and Iran •Aid for Africa Fukuda hopes to use the G8 summit to broker a deal to reduce by 50% worldwide greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Bush has balked at the idea, believing that any G8 agreement to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases — which trap heat in the atmosphere and contribute to global warming — would be meaningless unless emerging economic powerhouses China and India sign on, too. "The president's trying to shift the blame to developing countries," says Alden Meyer, policy director for the Union of Concerned Scientists, a non-profit environmental group. Meyer said that China and India have already signaled at a climate change conference in Indonesia, last December that they're willing to accept emissions-cutting targets. "On the topic of climate change, this year will be a place-holder summit," William Antholis, managing director of the Brookings Institution think tank, predicted. Antholis said that U.S. presidential contenders Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama were more committed than Bush to stopping global warming. When a new U.S. president meets G8 leaders again in Italy next year, he said, "industrial nations may finally step up to the global challenge of cutting emissions." In an hour-long meeting Sunday afternoon, Bush, who was celebrating his 62nd birthday, sought to reassure Fukuda on another issue sensitive in Japan: the abduction by North Korea of at least 17 Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s. Last month, the United States removed North Korea from a list of countries that sponsor terrorism — a reward for Pyongyang's progress toward dismantling its nuclear weapons program. The decision was widely criticized in Japan, which wants to see North Korea pressured into accounting for the missing Japanese. "As a father of little girls, I can't imagine what it would be like to have my daughter just disappear," Bush said. He said he told Fukuda "the United States will not abandon you on this issue." Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. Read more