[Kabar-indonesia] Bush off to Asia to talk trade, grapple with Korean nuclear crisis

[Joyo3]

Agence France-Presse
November 15, 2006

US President George W. Bush has left to nail down trade ties
with Asia and grapple with the North Korean nuclear crisis
on his first foreign trip since his party's drubbing in
legislative elections.

The US leader will transit in Moscow, where he will hold a
brief airport meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin,
before arriving in the staunch ally city state of Singapore
on the first leg of his regional trip.

He would also visit Indonesia, the world's most populous
Muslim nation, and Vietnam, where he would attend a summit
of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum at the
communist nation's capital Hanoi.

Bush would discuss with Putin, Chinese President Hu Jintao,
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and other leaders of the
21-member APEC group issues ranging from a prospective Asia-
Pacific free trade agreement to terrorism and nuclear
proliferation.

"One of the things that the President likes about the APEC
summit is when you get 21 leaders of economies together you
get a lot of opportunities for discussion," a senior US
official said ahead of the eight-day trip.

Aside from meetings with leaders of Singapore, Indonesia and
Vietnam during his visit to these nations, Bush would hold
one-on-one talks with his counterparts from China, Japan,
South Korea, Russia and Australia on the sidelines of the
APEC summit.

He would also hold a meeting with a group of all seven
Southeast Asian leaders attending the APEC summit -- from
Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore,
Thailand and Vietnam.

Steps aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear weapons drive
and removing barriers to investment and trade are expected
to be among key topics in both the APEC and bilateral
meetings, US officials said.

For the first time, Bush and the other APEC leaders will
discuss the feasibility of forging a free trade agreement
among the 21 economies, which account for nearly half of
world trade and generate 70 percent of global economic
growth, the officials said.

The free trade plan comes amid a deadlock in talks to forge
a new global trade accord.

Accompanied by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Bush
will also have the opportunity at APEC to meet with four of
the six players in multilateral talks aimed at ending North
Korea's nuclear arms ambitions.

They would "discuss what we should try and accomplish when
we do begin the next round of the six-party talks," US
officials said.
Following its defiant missile launches and nuclear weapons
tests, North Korea has agreed to return to talks with the
United States, Russia, China, Japan and South Korea.

The six-party talks to resume in Beijing possibly next month
is to explore an effective channel in which North Korea
could abandon its atomic weapons in return for energy and
other aid and diplomatic and security guarantees.

"You could not ask for better diplomacy since the detonation
of the nuclear weapon in North Korea than what you've seen
from the United States, China, Japan, and even, to a lesser
extent, South Korea," said Kurt Cambell, a former senior
Pentagon official.

Bush's national security advisor Steve Hadley said the
rapidly growing Southeast Asian region was of "great
importance" to the United States and that the US leader
would seek to "reaffirm the centrality of the freedom
agenda" and "continue to encourage efforts in the war on
terror" as well as highlight "the principles of good
governance, investment in people and economic freedom.

The United States is the biggest investor and top export
market for the region.

But even before making his trip, Bush suffered a setback of
sorts Tuesday when the House of Representative abandoned
plans to vote again on a bill to grant "permanent normal
trade relations" (PNTR) status to Vietnam.

The blow came a week after his Republican party was routed
in legislative elections and lost control of Congress.

Bush had wanted to grant Vietnam PNTR on his maiden visit to
the former battlefield enemy state.

A vote on the bill failed Monday and the House had wanted to
make another attempt to pass it on Wednesday but an official
said it had been postponed to possibly next month.

It is believed a number of labor unions were reported to
have whipped up opposition to the planned legislation.

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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