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Bush Says It's 'Important to Engage' China
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Bush has also sought to employ his personal diplomacy in soliciting China's help in pressuring North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program. Early on in the administration, Chinese were alarmed by Bush's bellicose rhetoric toward Pyongyang. But the Bush policy has moderated in the second term, and with it Chinese inhibitions about working with the United States through six-party talks.
Early in the administration, Bush invited then-President Jiang Zemin to his Texas ranch and pressed him on North Korea, according to senior officials. When Jiang said North Korea was a U.S. problem, Bush warned that if North Korea went nuclear, Japan might do the same, not a happy outcome from China's perspective.
A few years later, at a White House luncheon for Hu, Bush insisted that he sit next to the Chinese leader instead of his wife, as protocol normally dictates. That allowed for a more relaxed conversation, in which Bush tried to assure the Chinese leader that he was willing to sign a deal with North Korea -- but that he needed Hu's help.
In 2006, when the United States received intelligence that North Korea was about to test a nuclear advice, Bush ordered the intelligence to be shared immediately with the Chinese. After the test, Bush's first phone call was to Hu. According one senior administration official, Bush challenged him: "They have tested. They haven't just defied the United States. They've defied you, too, China."
U.S. officials contend that Bush's ability to engage China has been a major reason for the recent breakthrough with North Korea, in which the communist state provided an inventory of its nuclear program in return for being taken off the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism. Other experts said the only reason for the deal has been Bush's willingness to relax his terms with Pyongyang.
Asked whether he thinks North Korea is going to give up its nuclear weapons, Bush replied: "That's to be seen. But I know that there's a structure in place that will make it more likely they will. Because not only do you have the United States speaking out, now you have China speaking out."
Staff researcher Julie Tate contributed to this report.
