Piquing China just days before meetings with its leaders,

President Bush on Wednesday held up the self-governing island of Taiwan that Beijing claims as its own as a model of freedom “at all levels” that the communist giant should emulate. Bush’s speech opening a four-country tour of Asia amounted to a road map of the coming discussions he was to have on a potential bird flu outbreak, global trade,

North Korea’s nuclear ambitions and other issues at a gathering of Pacific Rim economies in South Korea. Full Story