In China, Bush to face balancing act

Behind scenes, plans thwarted

WASHINGTON - Aides organizing President Bush's trip to China for the Olympic Games considered having him worship at a house church, one of the underground religious institutions that routinely face official harassment, but the Chinese authorities ruled it out.

Pastors, lawyers, and other political activists whom Bush considered meeting in Beijing as a signal of support have instead been ordered by the Chinese authorities to leave the city during the president's visit. Scores of others have been arrested.

The idea of giving a Reaganesque "tear down this wall" speech on human rights in China, as members of Congress and others are calling for Bush to do, has been abandoned as potentially insulting to the president's hosts, one senior administration official said. Besides, most Chinese would probably not see or hear it, because of state control of the news media.

Bush, who departed yesterday for a trip to Asia that will include four days in Beijing, has characterized his visit as an apolitical celebration of the Olympic spirit and American sportsmanship. But behind the scenes, according to officials and others involved in the discussions, the preparations have been far more complicated and remain a source of friction.

The White House's plans have been thwarted by Chinese objections, by security issues, and by sensitivities that the administration chose not to upset, even as Bush faced criticism from human-rights campaigners and lawmakers here in Washington for not doing and saying more.

Harry Wu, a well-known critic in exile of China's prison system, who met with the president at the White House on July 29, dismissed the president's statements as "just games" and expressed disappointment that Bush's attendance at the Olympics was having so little effect on the Chinese authorities.

"There's no quarrel," Wu, now the executive director of the Laogai Research Foundation in Washington, said afterward, with a tone of resignation. "There's nothing. He's going. That's it."

Bush first announced last September that he would attend the Olympic Games, a politically risky decision, given China's authoritarianism and the deep support in the United States for the country's persecuted Christians, Tibetans, and political activists.

Bush will be the first sitting president to attend an Olympic Games overseas; he and his aides have said the trip is a gesture of respect to China.

"I know it's important for me to send a clear signal to the Chinese people that we respect them," Bush said in an interview on Wednesday with China's state television network, CCTV.

In that interview, he mentioned differences with China, but not their nature or causes, striking the balance he has sought in much of what he has said and done regarding US-Chinese relations.

When Bush met last week with Wu and four other Chinese dissidents, for example, he did so in the White House residence, not in the Oval Office. And he made sure to drop by a West Wing meeting held the same day between his national security adviser, Stephen J. Hadley, and China's foreign minister, Yang Jiechi.

While he evidently will not worship at an underground church, Bush does plan to attend services on Sunday at the Beijing Kuanjie Protestant Church, one of the most prominent of those officially registered by the government.