Associated Press
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – President Bush headed to a summit in China to strengthen the coalition behind his war on terrorism Wednesday and said the United States was “supported by the conscience of the world.”
“We are not alone in this struggle,” said Bush, preparing to join world leaders at a 21-nation economic conference in Shanghai.
There, Bush will hold talks with Chinese President Jiang Zemin and Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and South Korean President Kim Dae-jung.
The four-day trip overseas is Bush’s first since the devastating Sept. 11 attacks and, as anthrax exposure led to an unprecedented shutdown of the U.S. House, he acknowledged: “I leave at a very difficult time.”
The trip – with its trade-focused agenda – is too important to cancel, Bush said.
“The terrorists attacked the World Trade Center, and we will defeat them by expanding and encouraging world trade,” he said.
Bush made a brief California stop to rally U.S. troops, struggling businesses and jittery Americans everywhere.
“The terrorists want us to stop our lives. That’s what they want,” Bush told several thousand people crammed into the Sacramento convention center. “They want us to stop flying and they want us to stop buying, but this great nation will not be intimidated by the evildoers.
“We are supported by the conscience of the world and we are surrounding terrorists and their sponsors in a tightening net of justice,” he said.
The Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting will take Bush out of the country while U.S. military forces strike Afghanistan. Several APEC nations harbor or are hindered by terrorist organizations – including Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia – and could become the focus of any U.S. campaign beyond the Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.
Bush returns Monday, having cut his itinerary by more than half because of the conflict.
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