In a Changing China, Bush Seeks to Build on U.S. Ties

Thirty years ago, George W. Bush was a business student on vacation in Beijing. His father was the U.S. envoy there, forging ties to a nation still isolated from the West, and the younger Bush decided to see the city from behind the handlebars of a bicycle.

“I can remember how odd people thought I looked,” he told Asian journalists last week. “There wasn’t much exposure to the West, and all of a sudden, an American starts riding a bike amongst them and it, frankly, surprised some people.”

Today, Bush returns to a much different Beijing for his third formal visit as U.S. president -- this time landing in the bustling capital of a fast-rising power. But during a weeklong tour of Asia, Bush has demonstrated varied and sometimes confusing attitudes toward China that suggest his administration is grasping to confront the changes of recent years.

In Japan this week, he called on Chinese President Hu Jintao to embrace political reforms and religious freedom. He pointed to Taiwan, which China views as a rebellious province, as a model for the future.

But in other statements, Bush and his aides describe U.S. relations with China as good, even productive on issues such as curbing North Korea’s nuclear arms program and planning to confront a possible flu pandemic.

“We have tried to capture all of the complexity, the many dimensions to U.S.-China relations,” said Mike Green, a White House advisor on Asia. “There are elements that are very positive for the world.... There are other areas where China’s role in the world is still being sorted out.”

Bush confronted that complexity on every stop this week, addressing China’s role in the region publicly and in private talks with leaders from Japan, South Korea, Russia and Southeast Asian nations.

In Japan, which once dominated the region, tension with China, the new major player, runs high. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi angered the Chinese recently by visiting a World War II shrine, reviving memories of Japan’s aggressive role in the war.

But in South Korea, where Bush attended the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference, he found in President Roh Moo-hyun an advocate for closer ties with China. The two countries embrace a more conciliatory approach to North Korea than the U.S. has supported.

The demands are mixed at home, as well, where Bush must balance the wishes of two groups critical to the Republican Party base: businesses, which want access to the massive Chinese market through free-trade agreements, and religious conservatives, who want Bush to press for religious freedom to provide a foothold for evangelical movements.

Democrats call Bush’s policy on China ad hoc and aimless, blaming the growing North Korean nuclear threat and the exploding U.S. trade deficit with China on his inconsistencies.

The administration, which once viewed China as a rival and later as a “strategic partner,” now prefers no label other than “complex.” Symbolizing that policy, Bush on Sunday will try to highlight his calls for religious freedom by worshiping at a Protestant church in Beijing. But he will attend a church that operates with the blessing of the Communist Party. The government, which maintains tight control over the media, is not expected to publicize Bush’s church visit. In recent years, religion in China has burgeoned, with some analysts pegging the number of Christians at tens of millions, with Buddhism and Taoism accounting for several times that number. The church Bush will visit Sunday has grown to a membership of 10,000.

Administration officials do not expect major policy breakthroughs. Instead, they said, Bush’s focus will be on building his relationship with Hu.

The U.S. president, who brought his mountain bike along, may break out the pedals for a reunion tour of Beijing.

“This is a country that has progressed a lot since 1975, which shows the vast potential of China,” he told Asian journalists. “It should explain to people in America why it’s important for our government to have a good working relationship.”

Wallsten reported from Pusan and Magnier from Beijing.