>  Bush:
>
> China must end detentions, ensure freedoms
>
> By MARK S. SMITH, Associated Press Writer
> 1 hour, 1 minute ago
>
> BANGKOK, Thailand - Bound for the Beijing Olympics, President Bush is
> carrying a message of "deep concerns" about the state of 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 delivers the address in a Bangkok, Thailand, convention center
> Thursday morning to a crowd of foreign diplomats, Thai government
> leaders and business officials, before flying to China later that day.
>
> The White House released the text of the president's speech Wednesday,
> nearly 18 hours in advance, as Bush traveled to Thailand from South
> Korea. Bush arrived in Bangkok on Wednesday evening, and traveled
> immediately to a meeting with Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej.
>
> Bush's speech was planned as a summary of what he 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 in the prepared text.
>
> Earlier Wednesday, during a news conference in Seoul with South Korean
> President Lee Myung-bak, Bush said China's pre-Olympics crackdown on
> dissent has been "a mistake."
>
> The communist country considers the Olympics a source of huge national
> pride and is pulling out all stops to ensure no embarrassments. It has
> rounded up dissidents, detaining some. Journalists covering the games
> have objected to restrictions on Internet sites, worried about
> possible censorship.
>
> Bush objected, saying, "You ought to welcome people being able to
> express their minds."
>
> In Thursday's speech, 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 the leadership in Beijing.
>
> Bush already drew the ire of Chinese officials by meeting ahead of his
> trip at the White House with prominent Chinese exiles and dissidents.
>
> Bush has made clear that while he is going to Beijing mostly as an
> Olympics fan, he would talk frankly with Chinese President Hu Jintao
> during their private meetings. It was also known that he would speak
> publicly about religious freedom after attending a Beijing church
> service and that the White House was trying to arrange other meetings
> while he is in Beijing over four days.
>
> In addition, White House press secretary Dana Perino said the U.S.
> would 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.
>
> "We are taking the matter very seriously," Perino said Wednesday. "We
> would hope that they would change their minds."
>
> 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.
>
> Though Samak, the Thai prime minister, regards himself as a friend of
> Myanmar's generals, Bush heaped praise on his Thai hosts, calling them
> close allies in the war on terror and noting they've sent troops to
> Iraq and Afghanistan.
>
> Bush noted he's meeting with exiled activists while in Thailand, and
> his wife is traveling to the Myanmar border to visit a resettlement
> camp and clinic. "She's looking forward to the trip, and I'm looking
> forward to hearing her report from the trip," he said, adding, "We
> want to see freedom and prosperity restored to Burma."
>
> Bush also congratulated the people of Thailand "for restoring its
> democracy."
>
> A bloodless 2006 army coup toppled former Prime Minister Thaksin
> Shinawatra Thaksin from office. The interim government relinquished
> power after more than a year in office, allowing a democratic election
> last December that saw Thaksin's ally Samak sweep into power. Samak
> has been accused of trying to change the constitution to hold onto
> power and to prevent Thaksin from facing corruption-related charges.
>
> 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
> that it could someday share in its southern 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 a framework
> 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, as the president said he
> would when the North destroyed its nuclear reactor cooling tower in
> June. That offer has always been contingent on North Korea providing a
> full account of its nuclear activities.
>
> Bush said North Korea — which has a history of unpredictability and
> has repeatedly used negotiations over its nuclear program to wring aid
> and concessions from the West — must first do its agreed-upon part and
> accept international terms for verifying its dismantlement efforts. "I
> don't know whether or not they're going to give up their weapons,"
> Bush said.
>
> ___