HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam — Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Jakarta and hundreds of police erected a barbed-wire barricade around the presidential palace a day before President Bush visits Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country.
While Mr. Bush spent the day in Vietnam, more than 10,000 angry Muslims marched in Indonesia’s capital, where one protester held a sign with a photo of the American president and the slogan, “Wanted: Dead or Alive.” Another placard said in English, “Bush: Muslim’s Enemy No. 1.”
Dozens of trucks and buses full of police and military troops were dispatched to put up a makeshift barricade on the street at the front of the Bogor Palace, which is guarded by hundreds more police. Mr. Bush arrives in Indonesia today for a six-hour visit before flying on to Hawaii, the last stop on his Asian tour.
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Despite the protests in Jakarta, the United States is viewed positively by many Indonesians for its swift response to the tsunami that struck the islands nearly two years ago, killing 100,000. Almost 60 percent of Indonesians surveyed nationwide said that American assistance made them favorable to the United States, according to Terror Free Tomorrow, a nonpartisan group that includes Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican, as an adviser.
Meanwhile yesterday, the president urged Chinese President Hu Jintao to join forces with his neighbors to persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear program.
Keeping up pressure on member countries of six-party talks that have fallen apart, the president urged Mr. Hu to use China’s clout to persuade reclusive leader Kim Jong-il to stop North Korea’s atomic expansion.
“China is a very important nation, and the United States believes strongly that by working together, we can help solve problems such as North Korea and Iran,” Mr. Bush told Mr. Hu in a meeting on the margins of the 21-nation Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.
While Mr. Hu made no mention of North Korea in his remarks, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said that the Chinese president had called for “wisdom and patience” in dealing with Pyongyang, whose Oct. 9 nuclear test and July missile launches shocked the world.
China is the second nation to pull back slightly from the goals of the six-party talks, in which China, Japan, South Korea, Russia and United States seek to force North Korea’s hand. South Korea said on Saturday that it could not endorse a call to search ships coming and going from North Korea, the world’s largest nuclear exporter.
After his bilateral talk with Mr. Hu, Mr. Bush stressed the need for U.N. member states to comply with a U.N. Security Council resolution that bans trade of goods and transfer of funds to the North that could aid its nuclear arms programs.
But again, China expressed reservations. “We don’t really think that sanctions are the purpose, rather it is the means. The U.N. Security [Council] resolution should not be randomly interpreted and should not be expanded,” Mr. Liu said.
In Hanoi, before departing the APEC meetings for Ho Chi Minh City, David McCormick, an official of the White House National Security Council, said that the two leaders had agreed “on direction and next steps” on North Korea, but he declined to be more specific. Another White House source said that loose agreements had been made, but that North Korea’s neighbors do not want to roil the water by making demands on Mr. Kim.
Later yesterday, Mr. Bush met Russian President Vladimir Putin and again discussed both North Korea and Iran. At the conclusion of the APEC forum, the members issued only a verbal statement that said in part: “We express our strong concern over the July 4-5 missile launches and October 9 nuclear test conducted by [North Korea], that poses a nuclear threat to our shared interest of peace and security and our shared goal of achieving a nuclear weapons-free Korean Peninsula.”
Mr. Bush, who will visit the stock exchange in Ho Chi Minh City before flying today to Indonesia, also gave Mr. Hu a gentle nudge on trade. The U.S. trade deficit with China so far this year is expected to exceed last year’s record of $202 billion. Mr. Bush said that disputes between the two nations are inevitable but that they could be addressed in a “spirit of mutual respect and a desire to work through our problems.”
A few hundred miles south, across the Java Sea, Indonesians clashed with police and planned to disrupt the president’s visit. Indonesia is a key regional ally for the United States, but many Muslims there oppose the president’s Middle East policies and the war in Iraq.
Aside from Jakarta, demonstrations were also reported in South Sulawesi province, Yogyakarta and Bogor, the site of Mr. Bush’s visit. The short stop will be his last in Asia before returning home from a trip that also took him to Singapore and Vietnam.
The president has tried to mute criticism before going to Indonesia, securing $55 million in U.S. aid for anti-corruption and childhood immunization programs.
Indonesia has seen several deadly bomb attacks in recent years against Western targets and blamed on Islamic militants, including the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 persons, mostly foreign tourists.
• This article is based in part on wire service reports.
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