Bush set for October Asian tour

Regional security will be high on Bush's agenda

WASHINGTON -- U.S. President George Bush will embark on an East Asian tour in October, coinciding with a trip to Shanghai for the Asia Pacific Economic Forum summit the White House has announced.

Amid the U.S.'s growing concern for regional security, spokesman Scott McClellan said Bush will visit Japan, South Korea, and China, the first two being key American allies.

It was still too early to say whether these would be state or official visits, added National Security Council spokesperson Mary Ellen Countryman.

Before the end of March, Bush will have met with the heads of state of the three Asian nations, with regional security and economic ties top of the agenda.

He is scheduled to meet with embattled Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and Chinese Vice Premier Qian Qichen next week, after having held talks with South Korean President Kim Dae-jung earlier this month.

Wait and see

Bush's visit to Japan will come months after Japan's upper house elections in July, by which time Mori is seen to have stepped down.

Despite pressing economic, military, and diplomatic issues between Japan and the U.S., experts say talks between Bush and Mori would be limited by concern for the latter's political survival.

Mori, who has been described as a 'lame duck leader', has resisted growing calls for his resignation among the public and within his own party.

Mori is resisting calls for his resignation but may not last until October

A series of gaffes involving his handling of the U.S. submarine collision with a Japanese fishing vessel, corruption allegations, and statements harking back to Japan's militaristic past has caused his public approval rating to plunge below 10 percent.

Talks between Bush and Mori are expected to touch on their sagging economies which may trigger a worldwide recession.

Mori leaves for Honolulu, Hawaii on March 19 and will visit the site of last month's fatal collision between submarine USS Greeneville and the Japanese fishing vessel Ehime Maru.

Swords uncrossed

Amid strained diplomatic ties with the U.S. over possible arms sales to Taiwan, Chinese vice premier Qian Qichen will also meet Bush in Washington next week, in the highest level visit by a Chinese official since 1998.

The U.S. bolstered its position Friday that Taiwan needs to be armed against a possible military incursion by Beijing, saying that China has completed a second medium-range missile base close to Taiwan.

As it does each year, the U.S. will decide in April which arms it intends to sell to Taiwan, under the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act.

Beijing considers Taiwan to be "a renegade province" and has threatened to invade the island if it makes any moves towards declaring formal independence.

China, which has opposed the U.S.'s planned national missile defense shield, is willing to "narrow the differences" between the two nations, according to its point-man on arms control Sha Zukang.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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