BEIJING — President Bush dedicated the massive new $434 million U.S. embassy in Beijing today, saying it is a symbol of deepening ties between the two trading partners and sometimes political rivals.
Bush, in Beijing to attend the opening ceremony of the Olympics and cheer on U.S. athletes, said the eight-story structure represented the “solid foundation underpinning” relations between the two countries and a commitment to strengthen that foundation for years to come.
“To me, it speaks of the importance of our relations with China,” Bush said.
China unveiled its own imposing new embassy in Washington last week.
The president attended today’s dedication with his father, former President George H.W. Bush, who once served as ambassador to China. Also in attendance was Henry Kissinger, who was secretary of state during the Nixon presidency when the U.S. began a relationship with China.
On Thursday, Bush toured Bangkok’s slums, lunched with Burmese dissidents and, in contrast with today, delivered a speech critical of China to a carefully screened crowd, using the audience as backdrop for his message on human rights and democracy during his final tour of Asia as president.
With the first lady, Laura Bush, visiting a Burmese refugee camp packed with thousands of anxious families, the president railed against what he called the tyranny in Myanmar, chided China for its lack of religious freedom and praised Thailand as “the land of the free.”
“The passion for liberty transcends culture and faith,” Bush told a handpicked, polite group of Thai politicians, university students and other dignitaries.
He left for Beijing in the late afternoon to attend the opening ceremony of the Olympics, the final stop in a three-nation tour that also took him to South Korea.
In his speech, which dwelled on criticizing China and did not mention the Olympics, he said that “America stands in firm opposition to China’s detention of political dissidents, human-rights advocates and religious activists.”
The remarks drew a quick rebuke from China’s Foreign Ministry. “We resolutely oppose any words or actions which interfere in the internal affairs of another country in the name of issues such as human rights and religion,” a ministry spokesman said in a statement.
Although Bush focused on China in his speech, his agenda on Thursday was heavy with events relating to Myanmar. Bush was briefed by American officials on the cyclone that struck Myanmar’s Irrawaddy delta in May, leaving more than 130,000 people dead or missing.
The New York Times contributed to this report.
