| IN
THE NEWS - President Bush's Trip to Asia
This is Steve Ember with In the News, from VOA Special
English.
President Bush has returned to Washington after visits
to six Asian countries. He met this week with leaders in Japan, the
Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia and Australia. They discussed
ways to strengthen security and trade ties.
On Thursday, Mister Bush spoke to the Australian Parliament
in Canberra. He defended the United States' decision to go to war in
Iraq. Mister Bush praised Australian Prime Minister John Howard for
sending two-thousand troops to Iraq. He also defended the continued
holding of two Australians captured（战俘）during
fighting in Afghanistan. They are held at the American prison in Guantanamo,
Cuba.
Prime Minister Howard said Australia is a nation divided
on the war in Iraq. In parliament this week, forty-one opposition lawmakers
signed a letter criticizing President Bush's decision to go to war.
They said no clear and present danger existed.
Mister Bush traveled to Australia after a brief stop
on the Indonesian island of Bali. Indonesia has the world's largest
Muslim population. Mister Bush said President Megawati Sukarnoputri
has taken effective steps against terrorism. He promised more than one-hundred-fifty
million dollars to support education programs as part of the fight against
religious extremism（极端主义）.
Bombings on the island of Bali a year ago killed more
than two-hundred people, ninety of them Australian. The Jemaah Islamiyah
group in Indonesia is held responsible. That group is linked to the
al Qaeda terrorist network.
Mister Bush also met with moderate Indonesian Islamic
leaders to answer criticism of American foreign policy in the Middle
East. They said it is directed toward Israel. Mister Bush told them
it is directed toward peace. He noted he is the first American president
to support an independent Palestinian state.
During his stop in Singapore, Mister Bush urged that
country to use its financial influence to help strengthen other Asian
countries. In the Philippines he promised to help the army modernize.
In Tokyo, Mister Bush urged Japan to halt efforts to weaken the
Japanese yen（日元）.
And, in Bangkok, the president attended a two-day
meeting of APEC, the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation group. The United
States and the twenty other APEC members agreed on ways to speed the
war against terrorism.
They also called for the renewal of world trade talks
that ended without agreement in Cancun, Mexico. And they agreed to work
to restart talks about ending North Korea's nuclear weapons program.
Mister Bush faced protests in several countries. There
was anger about the decision to go to war in Iraq. On his way back to
Washington, the president met with Pacific island leaders in Hawaii.
He also raised money for his re-election campaign.
In the News, from VOA Special English, was written
by Cynthia Kirk. This is Steve Ember.
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