Bush ‘Confident’ Koizumi Can Lead Japan to Recovery

President Bush today expressed his strong confidence in Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s ability to revive this nation’s sagging economy, calling Koizumi “a strong leader” with “a bold agenda.”

“I’m confident in this man’s leadership abilities,” Bush said at a news conference in Tokyo, his first stop on a six-day Asia tour.

“I’m confident in his strategy. And I’m confident in his desire to implement that strategy. And when he implements that strategy, it will help Japan’s economy a lot,” he said, with the beleaguered Japanese leader at his side.

On the continuing controversy over his characterization of Iraq, Iran and North Korea as “an axis of evil,” Bush dismissed criticism of his remarks in some world capitals.

The president also told reporters that, should there be a need to expand the war on terrorism beyond Afghanistan, which Bush has said is all but certain, he is “confident that nations will come with us.”

Bush said the leaders he has consulted with “fully understand exactly what needs to happen. They understand the resolve of the United States of America.”

Koizumi pleaded for patience with his agenda to revitalize Japan’s economy.

“We’re moving steadily,” Koizumi said. “It’s been less than one year.”

Before Bush launched the week of intense Asian diplomacy, his top foreign policy advisors on Sunday defended his recent remarks suggesting that the United States may expand the war on terrorism by targeting Iraq, Iran or North Korea.

In separate television interviews, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice acknowledged that the president’s remarks had caused consternation among some allies.

But they indicated that Bush had no intention of backing away from his bellicose rhetoric--or the possibility of taking military action beyond Afghanistan, especially against Baghdad.

“What the president has said is, ‘I’m calling it the way it is.’ He did it in a very straightforward, direct, realistic way that tends to, you know, jangle people’s nerves,” Powell said on CNN’s “Late Edition.”

“But once they settle down and understand that he is going to go about this in a prudent, disciplined, determined way, they realize that’s what leadership is about, and they begin to understand why it might make sense for them to join in whatever efforts we may be getting ready to undertake,” Powell said.

Rice decried the “instant analysis” of the president’s remarks--first made Jan. 29 in his State of the Union address--as “not a good thing.” She likened Bush’s words to the “evil empire” remark made by President Reagan, a phrase that Rice said “spoke to many people in the Soviet Union who knew that about that country and many dissidents who were looking for someone to finally speak the truth.”

The comments by Powell and Rice made clear that the “axis of evil” remark is likely to overshadow Bush’s weeklong trip to Tokyo, Seoul and Beijing.

In an interview with Asian reporters over the weekend in which he previewed his trip, Bush defended his decision to pull out of the Kyoto treaty on global warming but said he had no objections to other nations ratifying the pact to curb emission of greenhouse gases.

“I think it’s bad for our country,” Bush said of the treaty, adding that he “did the world a favor” by being forthright about his opposition to it and then acting on his convictions.

The president said that although he was “committed to good environmental standards . . . I will do so in a way that doesn’t cost people jobs. The security of the American people is my most important job.”

Seeking to allay concerns among South Koreans, Bush stressed to the Asian journalists that he strongly backed South Korean President Kim Dae Jung’s “sunshine policy” of promoting dialogue with the North.

Bush’s comments linking North Korea with Iraq and Iran have upset many South Koreans who believe that the remarks could undermine Kim’s policy. But Bush noted that he too had made overtures to Pyongyang.

“Listen, our offer still stands for dialogue,” the president said, referring to North Korea. “We had no conditions on dialogue with North Korea. But it hadn’t been taken up yet. We said, ‘We’ll discuss things with you.’ And that’s still on the table.”

Bush said North Korea could demonstrate its good intentions by pulling back its arms directed at the South. He added that if Pyongyang abandoned its “proliferation of weapons of mass destruction” and did so in a transparent way, “we would welcome trade” with North Korea.

As for his stop in Beijing, Bush said he intended to discuss religious freedom with Chinese President Jiang Zemin.

After arriving in Tokyo during a light drizzle Sunday afternoon, Bush went to the U.S. Embassy, where he spoke to about 400 members of the diplomatic community, including some Japanese.

Before meeting with Koizumi today, the president and First Lady Laura Bush visited the Meiji Jingu Shrine, dedicated to the Meiji emperor, who led Japan into the modern era. There, they watched a demonstration of yabusame, or mounted archery. When they met in Shanghai in October, Koizumi gave Bush a yabusame bow and arrow as a symbol of Japan’s resolve to help the U.S. strike a blow against terrorism.