US President George W. Bush yesterday urged China to move further to allow political and religious freedoms, and he held up Taiwan as a model for Asia of a free and democratic society. In remarks sure to annoy Beijing ahead of his visit there on Saturday, Bush said communist-run China had taken steps toward more openness but had ?not yet completed the journey.? He painted a different picture of Taiwan, the self-ruled island over which China claims sovereignty.

?Modern Taiwan is free and democratic and prosperous. By embracing freedom at all levels, Taiwan has delivered prosperity to its people and created a free and democratic Chinese society,? Bush said in prepared remarks for a speech in Kyoto. Asked at a news conference if he was suggesting that China emulate Taiwan, Bush said his message was ?universal? and that he was ?not necessarily trying to compare one system to another.? ?What I say to the Chinese, as well as others, is that a free society is in your interests,?Bush said.

?To allow people to worship freely, for example, in your society is part of a stable mature society and that leadership should not fear freedoms within their society,? Bush said at a news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. He reiterated support for the one-China policy. Bush is in Japan at the start of a week-long, four-nation trip in which North Korea?s nuclear program, China trade and the threat of avian flu are high on the agenda.

His tour took him to South Korea later yesterday and to Mongolia on Monday. Washington switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979 in keeping with a ?one China? policy, but continues to be the democratic island?s strongest backer.

Bush has said he would do ?whatever it takes? to defend Taiwan but has also urged it to refrain from taking independence-minded steps that might provoke China. Bush reiterated that neither side should take steps to change the status quo and said ?it?s important for this issue to be solved peacefully.? In Pusan, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said he ?had not noticed? Bush?s remarks on Taiwan but said US-China relations were generally ?making progress?.

Tough words

Bush had tough words for North Korea and Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, and said that unlike China they had ?not taken even the first steps toward freedom?. Abuses by the military in Myanmar included ?rape, torture, execution and forced relocation,? Bush said. He cited satellite pictures showing prison camps in North Korea ?the size of whole cities? and said the country?s pursuit of nuclear weapons threatened to destabilize the region. A November 8 report issued by the Bush administration named China, North Korea, Vietnam and Myanmar among eight ?countries of particular concern? for serious violations of religious freedom.

Bush plans to attend a church service while in China, a way of underscoring his message about religious freedom. In the speech, Bush called Koizumi ?one of my best friends in the international community? and he thanked him at the news conference for support in Iraq and Afghanistan. The two started the day with a visit to the Kinkakuji temple, also known as Golden Pavilion, and held a lunch after the news conference.

Bush underlined his support for giving Japan a seat on the United Nations Security Council and he called Japan a democratic role model for Asia and a ?pillar of stability and security for the region?. The fact that Bush chose Japan as the venue for a speech prodding China on democracy might further irk Beijing. Ties between China and Japan have been strained lately over Koizumi?s visits to Tokyo?s Yasukuni Shrine for war dead.

The shrine is seen by China and South Korea as a symbol of Japan?s militaristic past because convicted war criminals are also honored there. Bush again pressed China to take further steps to liberalize its currency and open its domestic market to US exports and urged a ?level playing field? for trade.

Caren BOHAN