Smash hit

London and Paris will annnounce agreement over plans for a civilian rapid-reaction force of administrative and legal personnel that could be sent to stabilise failing states.

However, Mr Sarkozy’s threat of a boycott of the Olympic opening ceremony will place the new entente under immediate pressure. “The opening ceremony is part of the Games and our position against a boycott of the Games has not changed. We do not believe in a boycott as a way of effecting change,” a Department for Culture, Media and Sport spokesman said.

Mr Brown is scheduled to attend the closing ceremony when London will receive the Olympic torch from Beijing. As the next host city, London has an eight-minute segment of the ceremony that is expected to set the tone for the subsequent Games.

A snub by Mr Sarkozy of the Beijing opening ceremony would put pressure on other European leaders to follow suit. France will hold the rotating EU presidency during the Games while hosting the Dalai Lama for the first time since 2003 when he delivers Buddhist lectures in Nantes.

It would also heap embarrassment on the Chinese, who are already worried that the Olympic torch relay — the high-profile prelude to the opening ceremony — will be hijacked by political protesters and human rights activists. The torch-lighting ceremony in the ancient city of Olympia was disrupted over the weekend by pro-Tibet protesters. Three people from Reporters without Borders (RSF), a Paris-based media freedom group, were arrested.

The organisation appealed last week for a boycott of the opening ceremony by heads of state and governments as a way of sending a strong message to China without asking athletes to throw away years of training by refusing to compete.

The idea is supported by many in France. Jean-François Julliard, an RSF director and one of those of charged by Greek police with “insulting national symbols”, said: “We feel that political leaders are starting to change their attitudes.”

The sports director at France’s leading television company suggested that it might boycott the Olympics if the Chinese Government censored footage. “At that point, the president of France Télévisions . . . would without a doubt decide not to cover the Games,” Daniel Bilalian told Belgian radio.

— British arms exports to China have tripled in value in one year, according to a Foreign and Commonwealth Office report (Michael Evans writes). Arms exports were worth £215 million from October 2006 to September 2007. Licences for Beijing included equipment for military helicopters and for communications systems.

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