Oslo: German Chancellor Angela Merkel today rejected the idea of boycotting the Beijing Olympics as ineffective, but said she was open to another meeting with the Dalai Lama despite China's protests against her meeting the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader last year.

Merkel, in Oslo to attend the opening of the new national Opera House, said she would not attend the opening of the 2008 Summer Games in China because it had never been on her schedule.

"I do not think we should boycott the whole Olympics, we have seen that did not work," said Merkel, whose comments in German were translated into Norwegian by an interpreter.

The chancellor said Western nations decision to stay away from the 1980 games in Moscow to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan had little impact.

"And I never planned to participate in the opening," she said, adding that the minister of sports was designated to represent Germany in Beijing.

She said countries needed to find other ways to discuss issues such as human rights and Tibet policy with China.

China harshly criticised Merkel for receiving the Dalai Lama at her chancellory in September. Beijing broke off several meetings with German diplomats, and more normal relations were restored only after several months of behind-the-scenes diplomacy.

Merkel stood by her decision to become the first German leader to receive the Dalai Lama, defending the visit as that of a foreign religious leader.

Source : PTI