Bush Visits China

Bush Chides China on Democracy

KYOTO, Japan -- President Bush took a restrained swipe at China in remarks prepared for delivery today, praising Beijing for making incremental attempts to liberalize its government and economy, but urging it to get more in step with democratic governments in the region.

Mr. Bush called on China to emulate Taiwan by reforming its economic policies and providing basic freedoms for its people. "As China reforms its economy, its leaders are finding that once the door to freedom is opened even a crack, it cannot be closed," according to the advance text of the speech, which was billed as the signal communiqué of his Asian trip. "As the people of China grow in prosperity, their demands for political freedom will grow as well."

In a speech designed to illustrate the delicate balance he seeks to strike between China''s economic importance as a trading partner and its human-rights record, Mr. Bush raised a number of sensitive issues. He praised Beijing for taking an active role in efforts to dismantle North Korea''s nuclear arsenal and for raising domestic living standards. But he also urged China to allow its citizens "more freedom to express themselves...to print Bibles and other sacred texts without fear of punishment." Such freedoms would eventually become demands, Mr. Bush said, as China''s citizens grew more affluent.

Though he gently chastised Beijing for not having "yet completed the journey" of creating a full-blown democracy, Mr. Bush was careful not to get ahead of U.S. policy on Taiwan, which China considers a renegade province. In 2001, Mr. Bush antagonized Beijing when he said Washington would do "whatever it takes" to defend Taiwan from an attack by mainland China. The White House had said Mr. Bush''s remarks weren''t intended to depart from long-established U.S. policy, but many observers disagreed, saying previous administrations had always been deliberately vague about whether Washington would rise to Taiwan''s defense in response to an attack from the mainland.

In the speech, Mr. Bush reverted to the vague wording of Washington''s Taiwan policy, which makes no threat of intervention and urges the two governments to hammer out a "peaceful resolution of their differences."

Mr. Bush''s Kyoto speech -- which contrasted with administration officials'' predictions that the Asian tour would yield more diplomatic pleasantries than policy negotiations -- will likely be carefully parsed in the region as other nations attempt to determine how the president''s "democracy agenda" squares with Washington''s policy toward China. At his second inauguration in January, Mr. Bush signaled an end to the realpolitik of past administrations and declared that adherence to basic democratic principles would define Washington''s relationship with other countries. For a variety of reasons, the U.S. has historically maintained relations with dictatorships, especially during the Cold War, when Washington sought to restrain the Soviet Union at practically any cost. Mr. Bush''s agenda calls for elevating the spread of democracy over other considerations.

Mr. Bush reserved his toughest rhetoric for North Korea and Burma, two isolated Asian dictatorships. "Even in these lonely places the desire for freedom lives -- and one day freedom will reach their shores as well," Mr. Bush said.

Administration critics have often said that Mr. Bush''s democracy rhetoric would inevitably beach itself when serious strategic and economic relations came into play. China and Saudi Arabia pay little attention to democratic principles, for example, while Pakistan''s leader took office after a coup. Relations with the three countries have scarcely changed since Mr. Bush outlined his democracy agenda.

Mr. Bush also urged Beijing to "provide a level playing field" for American imports, fully float its currency and implement polices to ban the piracy of American intellectual property.