(dpa) - After seeming to back the idea of boycotting the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympic Games, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner on Wednesday backtracked, saying the proposal was "unrealistic."
Responding to Tuesday's boycott call by the media rights group Reporters Without Borders, Kouchner told BFM television, "It is not a bad idea but it seems unrealistic."
On Tuesday, speaking to journalists in Paris, Kouchner had said of the boycott plan, "Let's consider it," and suggested that the entire European Union should think about protesting the Chinese crackdown of Tibetan protestors by staying away from the August 8 opening ceremony.
On Wednesday, after apparently having considered the idea, Kouchner said that it was important to "to speak positively (and have) a chance of being heard."
"Hostility against our Chinese friends will not work," he said. "Let's think of something else."