Bush Diplomacy Makes Modest Progress
2 hours, 29 minutes ago
By RON FOURNIER, AP White House Correspondent
URL:http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=544&ncid=71...
CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico (AP) - A weekend of urgent diplomacy produced some modest gains for President Bush (news - web sites), although he left this sports-fishing resort Sunday with a string of disappointments in his bid to disarm North Korea (news - web sites) and Iraq.
The two-day Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum yielded the United States a show of unity against North Korea's nuclear weapons program, a fresh round of promises to combat terrorism and a valuable opportunity to lobby 21 Asian leaders on Iraq.
But Bush's toughest challenges went unmet.
Many Asian leaders still reject Bush's zero-tolerance approach to Iraq, and administration officials grimly acknowledged that a strong U.N. resolution to force Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) to disarm may elude them this week.
South Korea (news - web sites) and Japan still oppose Bush's isolation policy for North Korea.
U.S. officials still have reason to question the commitment of Muslim-dominated Pacific Rim nations to the war against terrorism.
And APEC (news - web sites), created by the first Bush administration to liberalize trade, became a forum for Asian leaders to accuse the second Bush White House of protectionist practices such as agricultural subsidies.
The weekend got off to a shaky start when Bush, a stickler for punctuality, was forced to cool his heels for 30 minutes while Chinese President Jiang Zemin (news - web sites) arrived late for Friday talks at the president's Crawford, Texas, ranch.
After more than an hour of talks, Jiang handed Bush a diplomatic success in the campaign to rid North Korea of its recently disclosed nuclear weapons program.
"We Chinese always hold the position that the Korean Peninsula should be nuclear weapon-free," Jiang said.
But the Chinese leader failed to deliver a stern condemnation of North Korea's actions. U.S. officials said they expect to endure weeks of negotiations before Beijing might be more forceful.
It didn't get much better for Bush at APEC. In the summit-ending statement, the leaders called on North Korea to "visibly honor its commitment to give up nuclear weapons programs." But the statement did not directly condemn North Korea for trying to build a nuclear bomb.
White House press secretary Ari Fleischer (news - web sites) said that declaration, and another made Saturday by the leaders of South Korea and Japan, were forceful. In diplomatic language, "it doesn't get much stronger than what they did," he told reporters aboard Air Force One after the summit.
On Saturday, after meeting with Bush, South Korean President Kim Dae-jung (news - web sites) and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi called upon North Korea to "dismantle this program in a prompt and verifiable manner." But they, like Jiang, stopped short of condemning North Korea's actions.
That appeared to be less than what Bush had wanted. On the trip to Mexico, a senior administration official said the United States expected South Korea and Japan to condemn Pyongyang. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, also said the first step in Bush's strategy was to isolate North Korea.
However, while Bush refuses to allow U.S. talks with North Korea, fearing the step would reward Pyongyang for its illicit behavior, he acquiesced in the desires of Japan and South Korea to continue dialogue.
Koizumi, who had been seeking to normalize relations with North Korea before the crisis, did warn that "normalization talks would not be concluded" until the standoff was resolved. U.S. officials called that a victory for Bush because Japan is the largest potential source of trade and investment for Pyongyang.
Bush won no public expression of support of sanctions or other economic pressures to punish North Korea. It is not clear whether he wants North Korea to suffer any consequences — aides say a decision on sanctions is in the works — but fellow Republicans are urging him to be tough.
"I believe that economic sanctions against a very weak regime can bring about beneficial change," Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record), R-Ariz., told "Fox News Sunday."
Former President Jimmy Carter, in a New York Times opinion article Sunday, chided the Bush for not following through on diplomacy. "Some progress has been made between the North Koreans and both Japan and South Korea in recent months, but similar efforts by President Clinton (news - web sites) terminated with his administration," said Carter, who negotiated the 1994 deal North Korea nullified this month.
On Iraq, Bush pressed his case with for a U.N. resolution to disarm Saddam, with force if necessary. But Mexico still sides with France and Russia on a watered-down two-step approach.
His patience running thin with Fox and other reluctant allies, Bush pledged anew to mobilize a coalition against the Iraqi leader — without the United Nations (news - web sites), if necessary.
The U.S. strategy is to convince allies that that Bush will confront Saddam one way or another. That forces them to choose between backing the United States or swallowing a dose of irrelevancy as Bush proceeds without them.
The president underscored the choice later Sunday, after returning leaving Mexico for a political rally in Arizona, when he drew a roar of applause by challenging the United Nations as well as Saddam. "If the United Nations won't act, if Saddam Hussein will not act, if he continues to defy the world, the United States — in the name of peace — will lead a coalition to disarm Saddam Hussein," he said. |
