Bush tells Beijing to model itself on 'free Taiwan'

Opening a week-long visit to Asia, George Bush yesterday urged Beijing to model its development on Taiwan - the island that mainland China claims as part of its territory - which he hailed as an example of a "prosperous, free and democratic China".

Speaking in the Japanese city of Kyoto on the first leg of his four-country journey, Mr Bush prodded China to continue along the path of reform, arguing that economic liberalisation would inevitably open up China's political system as well.

Endorsing the "legitimate demands" of China's 1.3 billion citizens for "freedom and openness", the President followed up with a warning that, whether the country's leadership liked it or not, change would come. "Men and women who are allowed to control their own wealth will eventually insist on controlling their own lives and future as well," he said.

He also urged China to permit full freedom of religion - a point Mr Bush will underline when he worships at one of Beijing's five officially sanctioned Protestant churches at the weekend.

Nonetheless, the President was clearly pulling some punches - a reflection of the delicate balance to be struck between promoting democracy, yet not creating unnecessary tension with a key economic partner and a country crucial for stability in Asia. For that reason he chose to make his speech at the start of his trip in Japan, rather than in China. He also avoided criticism of specific human rights abuses by Beijing.

Nor - though his meaning was plain in the lavish praise he heaped on Taiwan - did he directly compare the two regimes in the same sentence. "My message is universal, not necessarily trying to compare one system to another," he told a press conference before leaving for South Korea, and the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) summit in Pusan. "What I say to the Chinese as well as others is that a free society is in your interests."

He also reiterated Washington's long-standing "one-China policy", which aims to see the mainland and the island re-unite peacefully.

Qin Gan, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, said he "had not noticed" the President's praise for Taiwan, and insisted that Sino-American relations were "making progress".

After the Apec summit, Mr Bush travels to China for talks with President Hu Jintao, before a stop-over in Mongolia - the first time an American president has set foot in that country.