By Dana Milbank
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, May 27, 2002; Page A14

PARIS, May 26 -- President Bush called on Pakistan's president today to "show results" in stopping incursions into Indian-controlled Kashmir, after Pakistan conducted its second missile test in two days and tensions in South Asia showed no signs of abating.

Bush said he was "more concerned" that Gen. Pervez Musharraf stopped militants from crossing the Line of Control that divides Kashmir and "stopped terrorism" than he was about the missile tests.

"That's what's more important than the missile testing, is that he perform," Bush said at a news conference with French President Jacques Chirac.

Pakistan announced today that it had tested a short-range missile capable of hitting border regions in India. It followed Saturday's test of a missile capable of carrying a nuclear weapon 900 miles, deep into India.

Bush arrived in France this afternoon, the third of four countries he is visiting in a week-long European tour. He traveled from St. Petersburg, Russia, where he spent a day and a half sightseeing in President Vladimir Putin's home town after the two men signed a treaty in Moscow reducing nuclear arsenals. Bush travels to Normandy, France, on Monday to observe Memorial Day at the site of the D-Day landings in World War II.

Before leaving St. Petersburg, Bush spoke of "the danger of a serious conflict" between India and Pakistan over Kashmir, the disputed Himalayan region over which the two countries have already fought two wars. "I think that any time you have countries with nuclear arms, that a tension, serious tension is dangerous. And it's hard for me to measure the degree of tension."

India and Pakistan have massed 1 million troops on their shared border since an attack in December on the Indian Parliament in New Delhi, which India blames on Pakistan-based Islamic militants. Musharraf said in an interview with The Washington Post on Saturday that the infiltration of Islamic militants into the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir had stopped. But Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee warned again today that India's patience was wearing thin and that New Delhi would not tolerate attacks against its citizens indefinitely.

At the news conference in Paris, Bush elaborated on an assertion he made in Moscow that he had made progress with Putin in a dispute over Russian assistance to Iran in building a nuclear power plant. The Bush administration has called it the most significant danger of nuclear proliferation, while Putin said the project did not pose a danger.

Bush said Putin "is convinced [the reactor] will not lead to the spread of technologies that will enable Iran to develop weapons of mass destruction, and is willing to allow for international inspection teams to determine whether that's true or not."

A senior aide said later that Russia had merely mentioned to Bush the possibility of inspectors at the Iranian facility, and that the proposal had not come from Iran. Another administration official, briefing reporters, said the idea had not been proposed to Iran. "This is something that we're discussing, among other things," the official said.

Asked whether such an arrangement could be similar to the International Atomic Energy Agency's oversight at the site where a U.S.-led consortium is building two nuclear reactors in North Korea, the official said, "There are ideas and ways to approach this that are being discussed."

Bush declined to comment on Putin's assertion that his government's assistance to Iran was no different from U.S. assistance with the North Korean reactors. "We're thinking about what he told us," Bush said.

Bush and Chirac tried to play down press commentaries reporting a growing rift between Europe and the United States, particularly over environmental and military matters. Chirac cited a number of trade disputes with the United States involving steel and farm products, but noted that these "only account for 5 percent of trade."

Bush declined to take a position when asked whether he considered Western Europe or Russia a more important ally in the war against terrorism. "Look, the only thing I know to do is speak my mind, to talk about my values, to talk about our mutual love for freedom and the willingness to defend freedom," he said. "I think a lot of people on the continent of Europe appreciate that, appreciate the fact that we're friends, appreciate the fact that we work together, that there's a heck of a lot more that unites us than divides us."

Bush said that in Berlin -- where 100,000 gathered to protest on the eve of his visit -- he saw "hundreds of people lining the road, waving" as his motorcade passed. In central Paris today, several thousand people demonstrated against Bush's visit.

Chirac, who looked amused during Bush's response, dismissed the message of the protests. "They do not reflect a so-called natural aversion of such-and-such a people in Europe to the president of the United States or to the U.S. people as a whole," he said.

Bush pronounced himself jet-lagged and seemed tired and out of sorts during the brief news conference with Chirac in a vast hall of the Elysee Palace, hung with tapestries, gilded chandeliers and red curtains.

Bush at one point forgot a reporter's question and said, "That's what happens when you're over 55." Turning to the 69-year-old Chirac, he added, "You know what I mean." After referring to the French leader as "Jacques," Bush paused and said, "I guess I should call you President Chirac." Moments later, Bush again referred to him as "Jacques."

Bush, who was out until midnight Saturday on a caviar-and-foie-gras boat cruise in St. Petersburg, had trouble understanding some questions and said at one point, "Whew, lot of questions here." When Chirac called on a U.S. reporter, Bush remarked sharply that "that's generally not the way it's done," adding later to Chirac: "I'll call on the Americans." And when a U.S. reporter addressed a question to Chirac in French, Bush teased the reporter, saying, "The guy memorizes four words, and he plays like he's intercontinental," adding, "Quebueno -- now I'm literate in two languages."