Bush goes on Asia trip, first visit to Vietnam

[Ron Burgundy]

Reuters - President George W. Bush, politically weakened by U.S. congressional elections, heads to Asia on Tuesday on a three-nation swing likely to be dominated by North Korea and his views on fighting Islamic militancy.

The week-long trip to Singapore, Vietnam and Indonesia will allow Bush to leave the woes of Washington behind as opposition Democrats prepare to take command of the U.S. Congress and pressure him for a change of course on Iraq.

The trip will take him on his first visit to Vietnam, to attend the annual Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit that will put him face-to-face with leaders of the other four countries pressuring North Korea to give up nuclear weapons -- Russia, Japan, China and South Korea.

While in Singapore, Hanoi and Bogor, Indonesia, Bush will emphasize the importance he puts on fighting Islamic militancy that threatens security in parts of Southeast Asia.

Experts said Asian countries will be watching Bush to gauge how determined he is to confront foreign policy challenges after his Republican Party's election defeat on November 7 that meant he will have to deal with the Democrats for the remaining two years of his presidency.

"All Asian friends will be watching ... President Bush and his team in terms of his body language, his statements to see whether he will be weakened or committed to going forward with a broad and purposeful agenda in Asia as a whole," said Kurt Campbell, an Asia expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

While in Hanoi, Bush will hold meetings with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chinese President Hu Jintao, South Korea President Roh Moo-hyun and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Bush's trip will take him on a round-the-world circuit. He was to leave Washington late on Tuesday for Moscow and he and his wife, Laura, were to have a brief social visit with Putin and his wife while Air Force One is refueled for the flight to Singapore.

Washington is seeking Russia's backing for a tougher line against both Iran and North Korea on their nuclear weapons programs. Meanwhile, Russia wants U.S. support for its bid to join the World Trade Organization.

Bush and Putin were once close but their relationship has been strained over U.S. criticisms of Russia's crackdown on democratic freedoms and Russian opposition to the Iraq war and what it sees as an overly aggressive U.S. foreign policy.

After visiting Singapore, Bush will become the second U.S. president to visit Vietnam -- after Bill Clinton -- since the war there scarred the American psyche. Bush himself was a pilot for the Texas Air National Guard rather than serving combat duty in Vietnam.

Comparisons between the Vietnam conflict and the 3-1/2 year Iraq war were bound to surface.

During Vietnam, the U.S. concern was the "domino theory" -- if it fell to communism, so would other nations. In Iraq, Bush says he fears that if U.S. troops pull out too fast and it falls into chaos, it and other nations will become part of a militant Islamic "caliphate."

But although last week's election result was driven in large part by U.S. public discontent with the Iraq war, White House national security adviser Stephen Hadley rejected Vietnam-Iraq comparisons. He said Americans are far more supportive of U.S. troops in Iraq and that they understand if Baghdad falls, Iraq would become a safe haven for terrorists.