Beijing (PTI): China on Tuesday said any attempt to put pressure on it by linking the Tibet issue with the upcoming Olympics here would not succeed, insisting that the mega sporting event was not a "venue for discussion of political issues."

"In the past Olympics also, we have seen some heads of state or government have attended it and some have not. So, it is very normal. There is no need for some country to stir up or flatter themselves about it (boycott)," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jiang Yu told a bi-weekly news briefing here.

Western powers have been asking China to exercise restraint on Tibet issue and find a way out through dialogue with the Dalai Lama, with suggestions of boycott by some.

Jiang was asked about a reported call by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi to President George Bush to boycott the opening ceremony of Olympics. Pelosi recently invited the anger of China after she met the Dalai in India and solidly backed the Tibetan movement while calling China's crackdown a "challenge to the conscience of the world."

Jiang said the Olympics was a sports event of the people around the world and "if you do not come, it is not to isolate China. When officials and heads of state and government come, they are taking part in a gathering of the Olympic family to show support and cheer athletes from their own country".

"If some body wants to use the Olympics as a stage to flatter themselves, they will not succeed. If they do not participate, it is to leave the Olympic family. It will undermine the interests of themselves," she said.

Jiang said "we are opposed to the boycott of the Olympics for any reason. It is a sports event of the people around the world. It is not a venue for discussion of political issues or platform to give a political show."