Bush Reschedules His Asian Trip for Dec. 31 to Jan. 10
WASHINGTON — President Bush will travel to Australia, Singapore, South Korea and Japan from Dec. 31 to Jan. 10, the White House announced Wednesday, rescheduling an Asian trip he postponed earlier this month.
Bush had called off a trip to the same countries planned for late November and early December as public criticism mounted that he was spending too much time traveling abroad and not enough on domestic problems.
White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said Bush will leave the United States on Dec. 30 and visit Australia from Dec. 31 to Jan. 3, stopping in Sydney and Canberra.
He will be in Singapore Jan. 3-5; South Korea Jan. 5-7, visiting Seoul, and will be in Japan Jan. 7-10, visiting Kyoto and Tokyo.
Bush originally planned to make the trip in reverse order, departing Nov. 27 for Japan and stopping in Hawaii on his way back to attend the ceremony Dec. 7 marking the 50th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
Bush will still go to Pearl Harbor for that event. He also plans a stop in California on Dec. 6 on that same domestic trip.
Bush postponed the trip on Election Day, Nov. 5, saying he did not want to leave the country while Congress might still be in session.
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