Associated Press
TOKYO — President Bush, opening a two-day visit today, called Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi "a great reformer" and said he has confidence in his ability to lead Japan out of its economic doldrums.
Bush also dismissed concerns in Asia and around the world about his lumping of North Korea, Iran and Iraq in a so-called "axis of evil" that the president says threatens the United States and the rest of the globe with their potential to use and sell weapons of mass destruction.
"They understand our position," Bush, referring to allies, said tersely at the beginning of a meeting with Koizumi.
Bush also was asked about the recession-plagued Japanese economy and his plans to urge Koizumi to enact long-promised economic reforms.
"I plan on talking about what a great reformer he is," Bush told reporters. "We’ve got confidence in his ability to lead this nation."
At the start of a three-nation Asian tour, the president was publicly embracing Koizumi and his agenda while privately prodding the prime minister to take the painful steps toward reversing a decade-long economic slump, aides said. Bush hopes his support will tame Koizumi’s critics.
Key to stability in Asia, Japan has solidly supported the U.S. campaign against terrorism.
Bush began his first full day in Tokyo with a visit to the Meiji Shrine and a display of horseback archery on the shrine’s tree-lined grounds. The shrine, where ruling emperors were once worshipped as divine, was destroyed in World War II by U.S. bombings and rebuilt in 1958.
The president’s seven-day trip also includes stops in South Korea and China, where the war against terrorism will take center stage. Global warming is another issue as Bush brings word of his volunteer program for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
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