Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew will attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games on Aug 8, Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said yesterday.
He will return to Singapore for the Aug 9 National Day celebrations.
'After National Day, President S R Nathan will attend the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing from Aug 12 to 16 in support of our National Team,' the MFA said in a statement.
After Beijing, President Nathan will visit China's central Henan province. He will return to Singapore on Aug 18.
Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej and Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni have also said they will attend the opening ceremony.
Some Western leaders, however, have recently said they planned to stay away from the event, as a sign of protest against some of China's policies. Two who do not plan to turn up are British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy is considering staying away from the ceremony.
US President George W. Bush, who faces domestic pressure to skip the ceremony, has said he viewed the Olympics as a sporting event, not a political event.
His National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said on Sunday that 'if you listen to what he has said, he has no reason not to go'.