Bush to attend church in Beijing

President Bush will attend church in China on Sunday morning as part of his visit to Beijing for the Olympics.

Bush will attend services at the Beijing Kuanjie Protestant Christian Church before a meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao, according to White House spokeswoman Dana Perino.

{mosads}Bush strongly criticized China’s policies on human rights and religious freedom in Bangkok before flying to China.

“The United States believes the people of China deserve the fundamental liberty that is the national right of all human beings,” Bush said in his Bangkok remarks. “So America stands in firm opposition to China’s detention of political dissidents and human rights activists and religious activists.”

Bush’s visit has been scrutinized since before he announced he would accept an invitation to attend the games last year.

Some groups opposed to China’s human rights record and its policies in Darfur wanted Bush to skip the opening ceremonies. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) last week warned his attendance could be misconstrued as offering support for China.

The White House has said skipping the ceremonies would have been seen as too much of a snub to China.

Perino said she had no update on the Chinese response to a U.S. protest of China’s decision to revoke a visa for Joey Cheek, a U.S. gold medalist in speed skating who is a well-known activist on Darfur critical of China’s military support for the Sudan regime.

“It’s slower than we would like, but — and they’re actually running out of time to be able to rectify it, but we continue to press them,” Perino said.

Perino said Bush will begin his visit on Friday with a tour of the new compound of the U.S. embassy in Beijing along with his father, former President George H.W. Bush, and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

Besides attending the opening ceremonies of the Olympics on Friday, Perino said Bush planned to watch Lebron James and the rest of the U.S. Olympic basketball team play on Sunday night. She said Bush also expects to root for the U.S. baseball team from the stands when it plays a practice game against China on Monday.

President and Laura Bush will greet the U.S. Olympic team before the opening ceremonies.