US President George W. Bush, preparing to embark on a three-country Asian trip, has countered critics who claim his global war on terrorism has lessened Washington’s role in Asia and allowed China’s influence to grow in the region, news reports said yesterday.
“Our foreign policy has been robust in the Far East,” Bush said in White House interviews with editors from Thailand, South Korea and China on Thursday. The US president, on a farewell tour of Asia, will visit the three countries from Tuesday to Aug. 11.
While in Thailand, he is to deliver a “comprehensive” policy speech on Asia stressing that the US has strategic interests in the region and “must stay engaged,” Thailand’s English-language Nation daily said yesterday.
Another theme of his trip will be human rights. He is to meet with activists opposed to the military regime in Myanmar during his Bangkok stay and will raise human rights and religious issues when he meets President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) of China during the Olympic Games.
Under pressure from activists and some lawmakers to highlight the human rights issue, Bush met on Tuesday with five leading Chinese dissidents at the White House.
“I make the case to people that by going to the games and respecting the people, it gives me credibility with the government so that we can deal with common opportunities and common problems,” the English-language Bangkok Post quoted him as saying yesterday.
Bush said he hoped to watch the track and field heats in Beijing and NBA star Yao Ming (姚明) in action against the US basketball team. He also said he planned to get some exercise by riding the Olympic mountain bike course.
“I am going to China this time as the US president who happens to be a sports fan,’’ the Nation quoted him as saying.
Bush countered critics of his Asia policy, the Bangkok Post reported.
“In terms of foreign policy in the Far East, it is mistaken if someone were to say that my preoccupation was on the war on terror,” he said. “Our relations with your country [Thailand], South Korea, with Japan and China have never been stronger. And it took a lot of work to get bilateral relations as strong as they are.”
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