Strong ties with India,
China major Bush achievement: Rice
By
Arun Kumar
Washington,
Nov 24 (IANS) US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice considers
building up of a strong relationship with India, China and
other Asian countries as one of the most significant achievements
of President George W. Bush's foreign policy.
"Asia
has been a very important area for us and an area in which
I think we leave the relationships in a much, much stronger
position than we found them," Rice told reporters Aboard
Air Force One as Bush returned home after the Asia-Pacific
Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Lima, Peru.
Tremendous
progress has been achieved in cross-Strait relations between
Taiwan and China, besides strengthening of America's ties
with India, South Korea and Vietnam, she said according to
the transcript released by the White House Monday.
"If
you look at more traditional foreign policy issues like North
Korea and the six-party talks, tremendous progress in cross-Strait
relations between Taiwan and China - excellent relations,
deepening relations with Japan, deepening relations with South
Korea, with India - India is not here, but in that part of
Asia as well; strong relations with Vietnam," Rice said.
Citing
the relationship with China, she said the US had developed
better bilateral ties across the board despite differences
over issues of human rights and economy with Beijing.
"If
you look at Asia, the US has better relations with China than
ever, across the board - and it's not easy to manage a very
complicated relationship with a country that is emerging in
the way that China is," Rice said.
"It's
not that we don't have our differences, we do - on human rights;
sometimes on economic matters, as well, issues of economic
reform," she said.
In
reply to a question about the support of India and Brazil
to Doha round of world trade talks, Daniel Price, assistant
to the President for International Economic Affairs, noted
while India and Brazil were not present at APEC, they were
at the Group of Twenty (G20) leading economies meeting in
Washington.
"And
like the other leaders at the G20 meeting, they threw their
strong support, one, to reject protectionism, and, two, to
get a Doha modalities agreement done this year. That was determination
expressed at the leaders' level that included India and Brazil."
"And
although they were not here, they made their views clear at
the G20 summit in Washington," he added.
"These
two summits coming in such close succession with the significant
players all represented at one summit or the other - it shows
a renewed, if not new found, commitment to completing a modalities
agreement this year," Price said.
Indo-Asian
News Service
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