Bush to press China on political, religious freedom

The Associated Press

BANGKOK, Thailand -- The same day of his arrival in Beijing for the Olympics, President Bush is carrying a message of “deep concerns” about human rights in China and urging the communist nation to allow political freedoms for its citizens.

“America stands in firm opposition to China’s detention of political dissidents, human rights advocates and religious activists,” Bush will declare in the marquee speech of his three-nation Asia trip. “We speak out for a free press, freedom of assembly and labor rights -- not to antagonize China’s leaders, but because trusting its people with greater freedom is the only way for China to develop its full potential.”

Bush is to deliver the address Thursday morning to a crowd of foreign diplomats, Thai government leaders and business officials before flying to China later that day.

Upon his arrival here, he immediately met with Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej. The White House released the text of the speech in advance. It is to be a summary of what Bush says is the “stronger engagement” with strategically crucial Asia that has marked his presidency. But his remarks on China, among his most directly critical ever in public, stand out.

He says he has built a relationship with China’s leaders -- through opposing independence for Taiwan, cooperating in negotiations over North Korea’s nuclear program and sharing economic interests, for example -- that has allowed him to be “honest and direct” on sensitive internal matters.

“I have spoken clearly, candidly and consistently with China’s leaders about our deep concerns over religious freedom and human rights,” Bush says.

Earlier Wednesday, during a news conference in Seoul with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, Bush said China’s pre-Olympics crackdown on dissent was a mistake. The communist country considers the Olympics a source of huge national pride and is pulling out all stops to ensure no embarrassment. It has rounded up dissidents, detaining some. Journalists covering the games have objected to restrictions on Internet sites, worried about possible censorship.

“You ought to welcome people being able to express their minds,” Bush said. In the speech to be delivered Thursday, the president is softening his message somewhat by saying any changes in China would have to come “on its own terms and in keeping with its own history and traditions.”

“Ultimately only China can decide what course it will follow,” he says.

Still, his strong words are likely to anger leadership in Beijing. Bush already drew the ire of Chinese officials by meeting before his trip with prominent Chinese exiles and dissidents at the White House.

Bush has made clear that while he is going to Beijing mostly as an Olympics fan, he will talk frankly with Chinese President Hu Jintao and that he will talk about religious freedom after attending a Beijing church service.

In addition, White House press secretary Dana Perino said the U.S. will protest China’s decision to deny a visa for former Olympic speed skater Joey Cheek, who was planning to travel to Beijing to urge that the Chinese government help make peace in the war-torn Darfur section of Sudan.

Bush’s Bangkok remarks devote only a few sentences to criticism for the “tyranny” in Myanmar, Thailand’s neighbor, which is ruled by a military junta. He called for the release of the country’s democracy icon, Aung San Suu Kyi, as well as other political prisoners.

Although Samak, the Thai prime minister, regards himself as a friend of Myanmar’s generals, Bush planned to heap praise on his Thai hosts, calling the country a leader in the region and saluting them for restoration of democracy.

This, Bush says in marking 175 years of U.S.-Thai relations, “has proved that liberty and law reign here in the ‘Land of the Free.”’

Bush kicked off the last Asia tour of his presidency in South Korea. From there, at Lee’s side, he offered poverty-wracked North Korea hope it could someday share in its neighbor’s economic prosperity and spoke of a future in which it is no longer part of the “axis of evil” he first outlined in 2002.

First, though, he said the reclusive Stalinist regime must meet the step-by-step denuclearization demands contained in an agreement reached in six-party talks involving both Koreas, the United States, Japan, China and Russia. The North must also improve its human rights record, Bush said.

“North Korea traps its people in misery and isolation,” the president said.

North Korea expects Bush to remove it from the U.S. list of terror-sponsoring countries as soon as next weekend, which he said he would do when the North destroyed its nuclear reactor cooling tower in June. That offer is contingent on North Korea providing a full account of its nuclear activities.

The North is believed to have enough weapons-grade plutonium to make as many as 10 nuclear bombs, and the U.S. has accused Pyongyang of running a second weapons program based on uranium. Destruction of weapons is months away at the least.

Lee, a pro-American leader who took office in February, has seen his approval ratings tumble after lifting a ban on U.S. beef imports despite public fears about its safety. The public outcry prompted street protests that drew attention worldwide. But opposition has settled since Lee made changes, and the leaders even ate American beef at a luncheon hosted by Lee.