Read Robert Parsons analysis on Games expose Western confusion on China

BANGKOK, Aug 7  - Just hours before flying to
Beijing for the Olympics on Thursday, U.S. President George W.
Bush used some of his bluntest language yet in publicly
pressing China to improve its human rights record.
 

In a speech in Bangkok on the eve of the Games' opening
ceremony, when the eyes of the world will be on Beijing, Bush
voiced "firm opposition" to China's detention of dissidents,
human rights advocates and religious activists.
 

His sharper critique of the state of human rights in China
is likely to anger the country's communist leadership. It has
been accused of cracking down on dissent ahead of the Games
instead of granting more freedoms, as originally promised.
 

But Bush made clear at a news conference in Seoul on
Wednesday that he had no intention of using the Olympics as a
platform for lecturing China on human rights, though he intends
to discuss such matters privately with President Hu Jintao.
 

Bush had faced criticism from rights groups not only for
attending the Games but also for not speaking out more
forcefully against Beijing's crackdown in the run-up.
 

Bush has chided China on human rights before, focusing
especially on restrictions on religious freedom, and he drew
the Chinese government's ire by meeting dissidents at the White
House ahead of his week-long farewell trip to East Asia.
 

In a wide-ranging speech in the Thai capital billed as an
Asia policy statement, Bush delivered a more pointed message,
including his "deep concerns" over rights in China.
 

"The United States believes the people of China deserve the
fundamental liberty that is the natural right of all human
beings," he said. "America stands in firm opposition to China's
detention of political dissidents, and human rights advocates
and religious leaders.
 

"We speak out for a free press, freedom of assembly, and
labour rights not to antagonize China's leaders, but because
trusting its people with greater freedom is the only way for
China to develop its full potential."
 

TEMPERED MESSAGE
 

However, he tempered his message by saying any changes in
China would have to come "on its own terms and in keeping with
its own history and traditions".
 

Bush also praised China's economic prowess and cited shared
interests with the United States, as well as reaffirming
Washington's "one-China policy" and his view that nothing
should be done unilaterally to alter the status quo on Taiwan,
the self-ruled island that Beijing regards as part of its
territory.
 

On the ground in Beijing, he faces a delicate balancing
act. He has insisted he is going as another sports fan. But his
four-day stay will include worshipping at a church, followed by
a statement on religious freedom, and then talks with Hu.
 

Aides say he will do nothing to embarrass his hosts, who
see the Olympics as an opportunity for China to showcase its
modern face and economic progress on the world stage.
 

Thursday's speech could ease pressure from rights advocates
and leading U.S. lawmakers to make a stronger statement on
democratic reform and meet dissidents while on Chinese soil.
 

Another focus of Bush's visit to Thailand is neighbouring
Myanmar, formerly Burma, and its military rulers, who are under
heavy U.S. sanctions.
 

"Together we seek an end to tyranny in Burma," he said,
reiterating his call for the release of detained opposition
leader and Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
 

Later, Bush will have lunch with dissidents and former
political prisoners, and give an interview to local media that
is expected to be broadcast into Myanmar.
 

First lady Laura Bush, who backs Myanmar human rights as a
personal cause, travelled to the Thai border to a refugee camp
and health clinic for those who have fled over the decades.