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Bush defends decision to attend Olympics opening
2008-07-06
TOYAKO, Japan - President Bush spoke out Sunday on the Beijing Olympics and North Korea's abduction of Japanese citizens, two sensitive issues in Asia, before turning attention to global talks on the Earth's rising temperature and oil prices. He defended his decision to attend the opening ceremonies next month despite boycott plans by other leaders over China's human rights record. "The Chinese people are watching very carefully about the decisions by world leaders, and I happen to believe that not going to the opening ceremony for the games would be an affront to the Chinese people, which may make it more difficult to be able to speak frankly with the Chinese leadership," the president said. At a news conference with Japan's prime minister, Yasuo Fukuda, Bush also sought to soothe emotions about the abductions, a matter entangled in the nuclear standoff with North Korea. Japanese citizens are upset about the U.S. move to remove North Korea from the State Department's terror blacklist in exchange for the North's decision to admit to some of its nuclear weapons work. As a condition for sending aid and improving relations with the impoverished North, Japan long has pushed for the resolution of North Korea's kidnappings of Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s. The abductees apparently were used to train North Korean agents in Japanese language and customs. Bush recalled a White House meeting a few years ago with Sakie Yokota, the mother of a 13-year-old Japanese girl kidnapped by North Koreans agents on her way home from school in 1977. "As a father of little girls, I can't imagine what it would be like to have my daughter just disappear," Bush said. "So, Mr. Prime Minister, as I told you on the phone when I talked to you and in the past, the United States will not abandon you on this issue." Japan is an important participant in the six-nation talks that led to North Korea's recent declaration about its nuclear activities. Bush, speaking on the eve of this year's Group of Eight meeting of industrialized nations, said persuading North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons was a sign of progress and required verification. He noted that North Korea did provide a declaration of its plutonium-related activities and did blow up the cooling tower of its reactor at Yongbyon on June 27. The North needs to do more, he said, citing U.S. concerns about its enriched uranium, arms proliferation, human rights abuses and ballistic missile programs. "I view this process as a multistep process where there be action for action," he said. Bush arrived for his last G-8 summit as he turned 62 and with fewer than 200 days left in office. Overshadowing Bush's talks with other leaders is the White House election; at next year's summit, Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama will set the U.S. agenda. The site of this year's meetings is a heavily guarded luxury resort 2,051 feet above sea level atop Poromoi Mountain in Hokkaido, an island in northern Japan. Every hotel room has a view of either Lake Toya, formed in a crater left behind by a collapsed volcano, and Mount Yotei to the east, or Uchiura Bay on the Pacific Ocean to the west. At the summit, presidents and prime ministers hope for a deal that would set targets for reducing the pollution that causes global warming. But few analysts expect major headway or concessions from Bush. He insists on holding China and India, fast-growing economies and among the world's biggest polluters, to the same emission-reduction standards as older, developed economies. Fukuda, who is seeking agreement for 50 percent overall reduction in greenhouse gases by 2050, hedged when asked whether the U.S. was holding up any such deal. Fukuda said he did not know whether the G-8 nations would agree on a long-term target at the summit or not. Bush lowered expectations too. "I'll be constructive. I've always advocated that there needs to be a common understanding and that starts with a goal," Bush said. But he added: "I'm also realistic enough to tell you that if China and India don't share that same aspiration then we're not going to solve the problem." During the next several days, Bush also will delve into a range of other issues -- from aid to Africa to international trade, Iran's nuclear programs to the world food shortages -- with the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia. Hundreds of protesters rallied under heavy police security Sunday in Sapporo as world leaders began arriving for the summit. That city, about 60 miles north of Toyako, is the closest that protesters have gotten to the secluded summit venue. ___ Associated Press writer Eric Talmadge in Sapporo contributed to this report. ___ On the Net: Group of Eight summit: http://www.g8summit.go.jp/eng/
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