Politics 88 : Bush Going to Asia in June, Sources Say

WASHINGTON — Vice President George Bush is laying the groundwork for a possible trip to Asia next month in an effort to underscore again his experience in foreign policy, State Department sources said.

Although the trip has not yet been announced, the sources said that plans are under way for a Bush visit in June to three countries: China, Japan and South Korea.

Such a trip would give the vice president an opportunity to address some of the trade issues that will probably arise during the fall election campaign.

Bush campaign aides insisted Monday that they know nothing about plans for an Asian trip.

“There is no agenda for a trip, nor is there any planning,” said Bush’s press secretary, Peter B. Teeley. “We don’t have anything at this point. Bush has said he’d like to go to China, but there’s nothing on the drawing boards. . . . If there are high-level things going on in the Administration, I do not deny the possibility (of an Asian trip).”

When asked Monday about the possibility of a Bush trip to Asia, U.S. Ambassador to China Winston Lord replied: “That trip has not been confirmed.” Asian diplomatic sources said that they were aware of discussions about a Bush trip but that the trip was not yet ready to be made official.

By visiting China in an election year, Bush would be following on the heels of Presidents Reagan, Gerald R. Ford and Richard M. Nixon, all of whom visited Beijing within a year before they faced American voters.

The only presidential election in the last two decades in which the Republican nominee did not go to China was in 1980. That year, Reagan, the Republican nominee, criticized the Jimmy Carter Administration for downgrading U.S. relations with Taiwan.

The vice president could be expected to receive a particularly warm welcome in China, where he served as head of the U.S. liaison office in Beijing in 1974-75, before diplomatic relations between the two countries were restored.

For the last two years, Chinese officials have said privately that Bush was their favorite among the 1988 presidential candidates, a judgment based in part on personal contacts. Bush is what Chinese officials call an “old friend.” Besides being the head of the liaison mission, he visited China once during the 1980 campaign and twice more, in 1982 and 1985, as vice president.

In addition, Chinese officials have said privately that a Democratic President might create difficulty for China on the issues of trade and Taiwan.

A Democratic Administration would likely be more susceptible to protectionist pressures than a Republican one, they say.