AUSTRALIA: President Bush says Asia needs strong US presence
Updated
The American President George Bush has played down the significance of China's military buildup, ahead of travelling to Australia for next week's Asia Pacific summit. Mr Bush says he sees no expressions of hostility from Beijing -- and he says it's important that the US maintain a strong presence in Asia. Mr Bush spoke to the Australian Sky News cable network, ahead of his trip to Sydney.
SPEERS: But will the alliance change?
BUSH: All I can tell you is is that I remember John Howard has been behind in polls before and he's won it, so certainly I'm not going to prejudge the, decision of the Australian people, and I will end up dealing with whomever and work hard to make sure that the Australian and U.S. relationship is good, but I don't buy into your hypothesis.
SPEERS: But essentially the relationship won't suffer if Kevin Rudd becomes Prime Minister?
BUSH: Look, I'll be glad to deal with the situation. See, that's a loaded question. In this sense you're trying to get me to predict the outcome of the election and I'm not going to do it. I don't know enough about it and I am going down there to deal with the current Prime Minister who no doubt about it is a close personal friend of mine, and I think he is a man of steel because he's a person who stands on conviction and principle. I don't know Mr Rudd. I'm looking forward to getting to know him. And, that's all I really want to comment about your elections.
SPEERS: A lot of Australians will be weighing up what's going to happen to the alliance if Labor wins the election.
BUSH: You know, as I said, I'm really not going to get involved in your election down there. I'm going down as the U.S. president, proud of the relationship between the United States and Australia. It is a relationship based upon our common values. It's a relationship based upon good economic ties. And it's a really important relationship. And I presume whoever the U.S. president is after me, and the Prime Ministers to come in Australia, will understand how important that is.
Presenter: Graeme Dobell
Speakers: US President George Bush
DOBELL: George Bush is heading to Sydney for the summit of the 21 Asia Pacific economies, but on the sidelines he's also due to conduct the first three way or trilateral meeting involving the leaders of the US, Japan and Australia. The trilateral security dialogue between the three countries has been building, first with meetings between senior officials, then the three Foreign Ministers, and now the three leaders. The process was accelerated in March when Australia and Japan signed a security agreement, the first such treaty for Tokyo beyond its alliance with the US. This was Mr Bush's response to a question about tensions between China and Japan.
BUSH: We spend a lot of time on China in this administration. I've got good relations with both the Japanese and Chinese leadership. My view is that it's important for there to be an active U.S. presence in Asia, precisely to make sure that old tensions don't flare up. And I'm pleased with the progress that's being made in Asia. And obviously the interesting relationship nowadays is the trading relationship. Australia fortunately has got a surplus with China, and America, however, has got a major deficit with China.
DOBELL: The President's national security policy calls for the US to "hedge" against China making the wrong strategic choices in Asia. The policy makes the point, often used by America's military leaders, that China's military expansion is not transparent. Mr Bush says he's not concerned by China's military build up, because he sees no hostile intent.
BUSH: It only concerns me if there's hostility. In other words, it only concerns me if the government declares its hostility toward the world. I happen to believe that China's most important issue internally is for them to grow their economy. You know, they've got to create like 25 million new jobs a year in order to, in order to, you know, stay even, in order to keep their economy growing, and so therefore my view of China is that they're internally focussed to the extent that they want economic growth and vitality, they're externally focussed in order to get the raw materials they need, but if they ever turn hostile I would be concerned about a, you know, a military.
DOBELL: As the APEC summit finishes, Australia will be only weeks away from the campaign for election that John Howard is expected to call in October or November. In the opinion polls, the Prime Ministers and his coalition are trailing the Opposition Labor Party led by Kevin Rudd. So David Speers of Sky News asked George Bush what it'd mean for the alliance if his friend John Howard were to lose office after 11 years in power.
SPEERS: You've had a very close relationship with John Howard. You famously called him the 'Man of Steel'. If he doesn't win the election and Kevin Rudd does become Prime Minister, given you have differences over such a big issue as Iraq...
BUSH: Yes
SPEERS: Will the alliance still be the same?
BUSH: I refuse to accept your hypothesis.
SPEERS: Well if, if he wins.
BUSH: Well that's if. I mean you're asking me to answer a hypothetical.
