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Strong relations with India,
China major Bush legacy
By
Arun Kumar
Washington,
Nov 22 (IANS) "Very aware" of the rise of East Asia
and the emergence of China, President George W. Bush had built
"strong relations" with India, China and other major
powers of the region, says a senior aide.
"When
historians look back on the last eight years, one of the key
changes in the world, transformations in the world, will be
the rise of East Asia and the emergence of China," said
Dennis Wilder National Security Council Senior Director for
Asian Affairs, Friday.
"I
think what people will also see is that President Bush was
very aware of that trend and took advantage of that trend
to build American relations in this region," he said
talking to reporters aboard Air Force One as Bush flew to
Lima, Peru for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
summit.
"One
of the things the Secretary of State (Condoleeza Rice) has
talked about is that we are in a remarkable place today with
our relationships with East Asia," Wilder said according
to the transcript posted on White House website.
"We
have strong relations now with India, China, Japan, (South)
Korea, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand - all of the major
powers of East Asia we now have strong and productive relationships
with. Never before in American history have we been able to
make that statement as strongly as we can today," he
said.
Asked
how Bush would like to be remembered in the region, Wilder
said: "I think that, first of all, he would say that
he worked hard to understand this region, worked hard to build
really strong relationships with leaders in this region. "I've
had the privilege to sit in on his meetings with those leaders.
These are genuine relationships," he added.
"We're
very proud of the strategic economic dialogue between us and
the Chinese. We very much hope the new administration will
continue that, because the President believes, and has always
believed, that engagement and bringing China in as a responsible
stakeholder into the international community was key to getting
China right."
The
summit of Group of Twenty leading economies (G20) "was
a real sign of that, that there is a shift of gravity in world
economic relations from West to East," Wilder said.
"And
the fact that the international financial conference included
the nations of East Asia - India, China, South Korea, Japan,
others -shows the importance now to us of East Asia, importance
to the global economies," he said.
"And
the President I think understood that very early on, and built
those relationships and spent time on those relationships,"
Wilder said.
"So
all across the region I think these leaders respect his (Bush's)
leadership, respect his strength and, again, respect what
he's done to build free markets and opportunities for both
the American people and East Asians to prosper.
"And
there's no question that East Asians have prospered very well
because of the policies this administration took," Wilder
said.
At
the State Department, spokesman Sean McCormack was somewhat
sceptical of National Intelligence Council's report on global
trends predicting a diminished US influence going into 2025.
"It's,
I guess you can say, one view of the world peering into the
future," he said asserting "the United States has
been, is, and will continue to be a critically important part
of the international system."
Asked
about the rise of China and India, McCormack said: "China
and India, two examples, are going to be important countries
within the international system. Clearly, they are growing
economic powers."
"But,
you know, again, I'm not going to try to peer into the crystal
ball and offer assessments. That's one view. I'm sure that
there are other views," he said.
Indo-Asian
News Service
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