Published Friday, April 6, 2001
Bush: ‘Chinese have got to act’
BY MARY VOUNG
ASNE Reporter
President
George W. Bush reiterated that the Chinese government should
immediately send home the 24 Americans being detained in China.
“The Chinese have got to act, and I hope they do so quickly,’’ President Bush told editors at the ASNE convention Thursday. “They need to realize it’s time for our people to be home.”
The crew of a U.S. reconnaissance plane has been detained since Sunday when it collided with a Chinese fighter jet. The U.S. plane managed to land on Hainan Island, but the Chinese jet went down. The Chinese pilot’s whereabouts are unknown. Each nation blames the other for the collision.
President Bush’s response came during a luncheon attended by about 600 people. Sandy Johnson, Washington bureau chief of The Associated Press, asked the president whether it would be appropriate for the Chinese to question the American crew and what China’s actions will mean to the often-rocky relationship between the two countries.
“I regret that a Chinese pilot is missing, and I regret one of their airplanes is lost. And our prayers go out to the pilot, his family,’’ President Bush said. “Our prayers are also with our own servicemen and women, and they need to come home.”
When asked, President Bush refused to say whether he would apologize to the Chinese under any circumstances and whether the current situation would affect his planned visit to China later this year.
The president still supports China’s decision to enter the World Trade Organization and to become a trading partner of the United States.
“We should not let this incident destabilize relations with China,” he said.
Robert D. Richards, co-director of the Pennsylvania Center for the First Amendment at Pennsylvania State University, said he would have liked President Bush to speak more about negotiations with China to resolve the current standoff.
“He could have used the opportunity to fill the American people in on what’s being done to get the American citizens back home,” Mr. Richards said.
In an address and question-and-answer session that lasted for less than an hour, President Bush also spoke about his proposed budget and tax cuts. He was questioned about the appointment of federal judges, the First Amendment and improving air-travel service.
ASNE President Richard A. Oppel, editor of the Austin American-Statesman, introduced President Bush at the luncheon.
“I think it was a ‘getting to know you’ speech,” Mr. Oppel said after the session.
Opening his speech with “My fellow Texan,” President Bush drew chuckles from the packed ballroom. He jokingly said that with the exception of former President Warren Harding, who was a journalist, he and his predecessors have come to ASNE conventions to “pander.”
Then, in a mockingly serious tone, President Bush delivered a series of newspaper headlines that he would like to see in the future, including “Cheney cloned; president has nothing to do at all now” and “2 million overlooked ballots suggest Bush won California.”
The president dedicated most of the talk to his budget proposal, a significant priority since his days on the campaign trail. The Senate voted Wednesday to slash the president’s $1.6 trillion tax cut by one-third, deciding instead to devote the funds to education and reducing the debt. Also that day, the House of Representatives chose to repeal the estate tax over 10 years. The House already has passed several key elements of the budget proposal, including a sweeping reduction in personal income tax rates.
President Bush pointed out that a Democratic Congress passed President John F. Kennedy’s tax cut even though there was a deficit, and under similar conditions, a Republican Senate and Democratic House passed President Ronald Reagan’s tax cuts.
“Because the country needed it,” he said.
Although the debate over the budget has been a “vigorous” one, President Bush said he is encouraged that in meeting with members of both parties, “we’ve been able to make our points without making enemies.”
The Senate is set to vote Friday on the budget.
Mounting delays at the nation’s airports prompted one ASNE member to ask the president what he would do to solve the problem and if that would include opening a third Chicago airport.
“One thing we need to do is expand the number of runways all around America,’’ President Bush said. “And as you know, there’s a lot of environmental regulations, some of them meaningful, some of them not, that prohibit the expansion of runways.”
He said he had not made up his mind yet about a new Chicago airport.
Editors reacted after President Bush’s speech.
“He made his big pitch,” said George Kennedy, managing editor of the Columbia Missourian. “He had a couple of carefully scripted little jokes. In a way it’s his misfortune to have to follow (former President) Bill Clinton, who was one of the greatest speech writers of our generation.”
But 11-year-old Melanie Mosher is a fan.
“I liked his speech, the funnier parts, what he’d like to see in the headlines of newspapers,’’ said Melanie, the daughter of Roger L. Mosher, editor and publisher of The Daily News in Batavia, N.Y.
