North Koreans Brand Bush a 'Backward Child'

By: Roland Watson and Oliver August

President Bush returned to the United States yesterday after an awkward Asian tour ended with fresh criticism from Chinese students and North Korea, which described him as a "politically backward child".

China also responded to Mr Bush’s calls to allow greater religious freedom by arresting 47 Christians in Beijing, for what it described as forming an illegal gathering, during his visit.

In a clear attempt to pave the way for better Sino-U.S. relations in the future, the President held a private meeting with Hu Jintao, the enigmatic heir apparent to President Jiang Zemin. Mr Bush invited Mr Hu, the Vice-President, to the White House in what may be one of the most important outcomes of his six-day trip to the region, during which he also visited South Korea and Japan.

Mr Bush’s attempts to soothe sentiments in the region after he had accused North Korea of being part of an "axis of evil" with Iran and Iraq appeared to have foundered.

In its first reaction to Mr Bush’s visit, the North Korean Foreign Ministry said that the U.S. President had insulted Kim Jong Il, the country’s leader, and dismissed his requests for renewed dialogue. "The remarks of Bush, prompted by the desire to conquer the Government of another country by dint of strength and dollars, remind people of a puppy knowing no fear of the tiger", its statement said. "[North Korea] can never pardon anyone who dares chastise its supreme headquarters and slander its political system, even though he is a man bereft of an elementary reason or a politically backward child."

Mr Bush was also put on the defensive by Chinese students, who forced him to concede that there were cultural and educational shortcomings in the United States when they challenged his account of the depth of American values. Visiting China’s foremost university, Mr Bush urged the country’s leaders to embrace tolerance, diversity and dissent, holding up the U.S. as an example of hope and opportunity.

But in the feisty question and answer session that followed, which contained suggestions of point-scoring by both sides, Mr Bush was challenged on his portrayal. One student said that he had read about high levels of American crime and juvenile delinquency in Mr Bush’s autobiography, adding that a fellow student from Tsinghua University had recently been killed while on an exchange visit in the U.S.

Mr Bush responded: "There’s no question that we have people living in poverty."

He said that one of the saddest aspects about American life was the significant number of nine-year-olds who could not read. "It’s a shame for America that that is the case." He was also pressed twice on American policy towards Taiwan by the students.

Mr Bush remained politely good-humoured as he chose six questioners from the audience of about 200 students during the unscripted session, which was broadcast live on Chinese national television.

While stopping short of direct criticism of Beijing, Mr Bush did not mince his words. The day after President Jiang had said that a group of Catholic bishops had been jailed because they had broken the law, and not because of their faith, Mr Bush told his audience that China had enjoyed religious tolerance for centuries, and he prayed that one day it would return. "Freedom of religion is not something to be feared, but welcomed", he said.

The arrested Christians had gathered for a religious meeting on Thursday morning, when Mr Bush arrived, according to the Hong Kong-based Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy.

About 70 police officers arrived at the small house where they were meeting, arrested them for "illegally gathering" and confiscated their Bibles. It was later reported that some of those arrested had been released.

The audience at the university included Mr Hu, who said later: "Friendship between the two countries is the wish of both peoples and in line with the development trend of history."

Mr Hu was picked in 1992 as the successor to President Jiang and has since studiously avoided almost all contact with foreigners, never giving interviews and always deferring to the judgment of Mr Jiang in public.

In the arcane world of Chinese politics, where even the slightest appearance of upstaging a superior can amount to political suicide, this has allowed Mr Hu to avoid the fate of previous "crown princes".

Mr Hu, 59, who is inevitably described as bland and colourless, has done so well at pretending not to want the Chinese leadership that he is now being awarded that very position. In September he will assume the stewardship of the Communist Party as its General Secretary, followed by his coronation as President next March - all, apparently, without ever asking.

Diplomats are desperate to know more about Mr Hu. "We are still just grasping at straws", one Beijing-based diplomat said. "It is extraordinary that all we have to go on are these scraps of information about the man who will rule China by the end of the year."

When President Nixon first crossed the Bamboo Curtain 30 years ago yesterday and held historic talks with Mao Zedong in Beijing, the West probably knew more about the Chairman than it knows today about Mr Hu, even though China is now a far more open country than in 1972.

Mr Hu, who has been a party member all of his adult life, has formed a career that suggests he is a mixture of the hardliner and the reformer.

As party secretary in Tibet he imposed martial law in 1989 following clashes between monks and police, but he made his name as the head of the Communist Party School, a progressive think-tank and training ground for party cadres.

He raised his profile last year with a tour of Russia, Britain, France, Spain, and Germany, his first visit to Western Europe. He has not visited the U.S. as an adult.

Fears were raised in Washington that Mr Hu had little understanding of the West, or even harboured anti-American views, when he made a nationally televised address in May 1999 supporting protests against the Nato bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade.