SANTIAGO, Chile, Nov. 21 -- President Bush, who wrapped up two days of meetings with Pacific Rim leaders on Sunday, used his first post-election trip abroad to preview a second-term foreign policy that will put more emphasis on building alliances and engaging other countries, but without softening the policies that rankled many allies in his first term.
Bush met individually with 10 heads of state as part of the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum and invited so many of them to Washington or promised visits to their countries that his calendar for the next year could look a bit like that of a secretary of state.
Appearing before cameras Sunday morning with President Vicente Fox of Mexico, Bush said he had told his neighbor that he would push Congress to adopt his proposal to provide temporary legal status to undocumented workers who have jobs in the United States. The idea is unpopular with many House Republicans and went nowhere after Bush introduced it in January, but White House officials have said they will make it a priority this year.
"I told President Fox I had campaigned on this issue," Bush said. "I assured him that we want people from Mexico treated with respect and dignity."
Fox, who opposed the Iraq war and has suggested Bush has neglected issues in this hemisphere, said after the meeting that the two have "a very optimistic relationship." He congratulated Bush on his reelection and said they hope to meet in Washington -- perhaps in February or March -- to finish work on the issues they had discussed and maybe put them "in the share of some form of agreement."
Bush used the meetings to try to turn the corner from Iraq, which divided him from many close allies and was barely mentioned in the White House's public statements at the summit. He instead focused on his top goals for the summit -- keeping pressure on Iran and North Korea to give up their nuclear programs -- which involved marshaling the cooperation of allies.
Bush was reminded of how far he has to go when a Chilean reporter asked him a sharply worded question at a Sunday evening news conference with President Ricardo Lagos of Chile, who opposed the invasion of Iraq. The reporter asked Bush what could be done about "this negative image of the White House that exists in large parts of the world right now" because of the war.
Bush, speaking in a red-carpeted, covered courtyard at the presidential palace, La Moneda, said he respected Lagos's disagreement but that even opponents of the war have "got to agree with" his view that the world is better off with former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein out of power. Bush added that it was "important to succeed in Iraq." Iraqi officials announced Sunday that elections will be held Jan. 30. Bush called the interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi, "a strong, capable democrat."
"The United States of America will stay the course and we will complete this task," he said. "What we're doing is the right thing in Iraq, and history will prove it right."
Bush chuckled when a Chilean reporter cited China's growing reach in Latin America and asked whether he was going to do anything "so you don't lose your influence in this region." The president replied that he thought China's "phenomenal growth rates" were positive, and that it was "helpful for there to be universal prosperity."
The president said some leaders in the meetings expressed concern about the value of the U.S. dollar. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan warned Friday that the dollar's value could continue to slide because of ballooning trade and budget deficits.
"I reiterated the fact that my government has a strong dollar policy," Bush said. "And the best way to affect those who watch the dollar's value is to make a commitment to deal with our short-term and long-term deficits."
Bush's conduct at the summit reflected modifications that he previewed after the election during a news conference with Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain, when the president announced that his first foreign trip next year would be to Europe, and when he pledged to "strengthen cooperation between Europe and America."
Bush's new approach is in part a matter of necessity. An overstretched military and mixed public opinion about Iraq make preemptive wars unlikely, and his partners in talks on North Korea have insisted that he not take steps that would further isolate North Korea's government.
Bush's stance is potentially problematic because it does not emphasize incentives for allies or others to work with him. And even some administration officials contend it is his policy, not his diplomacy, that has fueled so much anti-Americanism around the world.
A senior administration official traveling with Bush said the White House plans more of an emphasis on alliance-building in the next four years.
"I don't think you'll see compromise on goals and objectives," the official said. "But you will see tactical flexibility. In order to consolidate the gains we made in the first term, diplomacy will be critical."
A Republican official, who has been briefed on the White House strategy, but refused to be identified further, put it more bluntly. "What they want is to develop and strengthen alliances, but in the direction of U.S. policy," the official said. "They think Bush has more leverage after the election to engage other countries, but they're not changing their policy. They believe nothing succeeds like success, and they look at the pretty hard-nosed, unilateral foreign policy of the past four years as having succeeded."
