By Xinhua,
Bangkok : U.S. President George W. Bush on Thursday applauded his government’s “accomplishments” in bolstering American engagement with Asia under his running-out eight-year tenure.
Bush made the remarks in a speech Thursday morning at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center in Bangkok during his second stop of his Asian tour.
“Over the past six decades, Asia has gone from an area mired in poverty and recovering from world war to a thriving and dynamic region,” Bush said, “America has played a role in this transformation.”
He said “over the past seven years, America has pursued four broad goals in the region: to reinvigorate our alliances, to forge new relationships with countries that share our values, to seize new opportunities for prosperity and growth, and to confront shared challenges together.”
Last year, trade in goods between the United States and the western side of the Pacific reached one trillion U.S. dollars and more trade now crosses the Pacific than the Atlantic, said the U.S. president.
But Bush said, “Unfortunately, America sometimes sends mixed signals about the openness of our economy. Voices of economic isolationism do not represent the interests of the American people. For decades, America has maintained a bipartisan commitment to flexible, open markets. This must not change.”
He asked people in Asia reject protectionism. “Together, we can lead the world toward more growth, more jobs, and more opportunities by staying open to investment and trade.”
The remarks came after thousands of South Korean protesters opposing their government’s lifting U.S. beef import ban greeted the U.S. President in Seoul, when he visited there Tuesday for a two-day visit.
Bush’s speech also cited “challenges” threatening American interests and its goals in the region.
One of the highlights in the speech was remarks regarding China, the host of the year’s Olympic Games of which Bush is attending the opening on Friday evening.
Bush noted that the United States and China have found new cooperative platforms in key issues like the Six-Party Talks on the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula, in which “China has played a critical leadership role.”
Bush and his wife Laura Bush and daughter Barbara boarding the Air Force One arrived in Bangkok at dust Wednesday to begin a two-day working visit in the country. Bush met with at Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej at Government House on the evening. The two hailed Thai-U.S. strong ties in a joint press conference after the meeting.
The visit to Thailand is part of Bush’s last Asian tour as U.S. president before his term ends in January, 2009, and also an occasion to mark the 175th anniversary of Thai-U.S. diplomatic relations.
Wrapping up the visit to Thailand, Bush is flying to Beijing to attend the Olympics 2008 opening ceremony on Friday.