President Bush tackling Chinese rights -- from Thailand
On his final scheduled trip to Asia as president, George W. Bush is delivering what may be his toughest message to China on human rights — but from afar.
In remarks prepared for delivery Thursday in Bangkok, Thailand, where Bush and his wife and daughter Barbara arrived today, Bush says that the United States and China have made progress across a wide swath of the relationship, particularly in trade.
This “constructive relationship,” he says on his final stop before visiting Beijing to attend the opening days of the Summer Olympic Games beginning Friday, “has placed America in a better position to be honest and direct on other issues.” He singles out religious freedom and human rights.
And, in a key passage, he says:
The United States believes the people of China deserve the fundamental liberty that is the natural right of all human beings. So America stands in firm opposition to China’s detention of political dissidents, human rights advocates, and religious activists. 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. And we press for openness and justice not to impose our beliefs, but to allow the Chinese people to express theirs.
The remarks go to the heart of issues human rights campaigners from China and elsewhere have raised with Bush — most recently at a private meeting with him at the White House last week ahead of the trip.
The question that remains, however, is this: Will the symbolism of his taking part in the Olympic festivities, including attending the opening ceremony in which Chinese President Hu Jintao and other Chinese officials have put so much stock, outweigh his words?
After all, government-controlled news media will be able to block wide Chinese access to Bush’s critical message, while touting his words of praise and displaying images of him at the Olympic stadium in Beijing.
For Bush, there was little question about attending the games once he gave his word to Hu last September that he would show up. He has made clear that backing out of the trip or delivering a blunt public message of rebuke on human rights would be deeply insulting to the Chinese and, in his view, would set back the U.S.-Chinese relationship he has sought to construct.
So, the issue that hung over the visit was how to balance the public image without appearing to undercut the political message he wanted to convey.
The speech in Bangkok provides the answer.
In the end, Bush says, “Only China can decide what course it will follow.”
“America and our partners are realistic, and we are prepared for any possibility,” he says.
But, closing on an upbeat note, he adds:
I am optimistic about China’s future. Young people who grow up with the freedom to trade goods will ultimately demand the freedom to trade ideas, especially on an unrestricted Internet. Change in China will arrive on its own terms and in keeping with its own history and traditions. Yet change will arrive. And it will be clear for all to see that those who aspire to speak their conscience and worship their God are no threat to the future of China. They are the people who will make China a great nation in the 21st century.
The White House press office took the unusual step of distributing the prepared text well ahead of delivery -- a move that Press Secretary Dana Perino told reporters was made to make it more convenient for them. With the time difference between Asia and the United States, the speech will be delivered on deadline for U.S. newspapers.
But the distribution of the text also assures wider dissemination. And that's what the White House wanted.
-- James Gerstenzang
Photo: Gerald Herbert / Associated Press
