WASHINGTON (AFP) — US President George W. Bush on Tuesday offered his condolences to the Philippines over devastating Typhoon Fengshen and said he was sending a US aircraft carrier to help with relief efforts.
"We are happy to do it, we want to help our friends in a time of need," Bush said after White House talks with Philippines President Gloria Arroyo, adding that the USS Ronald Reagan and other US Navy assets were on their way.
Later in the day, Bush was to meet with Vietnamese Premier Nguyen Tan Dung, who like Arroyo was expected to raise issues such as energy pricing and subsidies, and rising inflation amid rocketing oil and food costs.
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said the US president would use both meetings to discuss the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which Washington has pushed to take a harder line on member nation Myanmar.
In the talks with Trung, Bush was also to "highlight the importance he attaches to respect for human rights and the freedoms of speech, religion and assembly," she said, amid calls for more public US criticism of Vietnam.
Both meetings came as the US president prepared for two trips to Asia -- in Japan for the Group of Eight industrialized nations summit in July and to China for the Olympic Games in August, as well as other possible stops.
The two trips, which follow a farewell trip to Europe this month, could be his last to the continent before his term ends in January 2009.
The meeting with Arroyo -- who took office the same day Bush did, January 20, 2001 -- came as the Philippines worked to recover from Typhoon Fengshen, which has been estimated to have left about 600 people dead or missing, not counting the hundreds of people aboard a ferry that sank.
"I expressed our deep condolences to those who suffered as a result of the typhoon," he said as they met in his Oval Office. "The American people care about the human suffering that's taking place and we send our prayers."
"I know there's some families that are hurting. Some are wondering whether or not their loved ones will reappear," said Bush, who promised US food aid. "This is a time where America needs to step up, and we will, Madame President."
Landslides, severe flooding and the loss of dozens of fishing boats had left at least 224 dead and 374 missing, mostly in central areas which bore the brunt of the storm, the Red Cross and civil defense said Monday.
The figures did not include passengers and crew from a ferry which sank carrying perhaps as many as 850 people. Just 57 survivors have been found thus far in one of the worst maritime disasters in the country's history.
Bush also praised Arroyo for taking "a strong stand, effective stand on counterterrorism, as well as laying out a vision for peace."
And he said the two leaders had discussed upheaval in Myanmar and praised his guest as "a very strong leader when it comes to the freedom agenda and human dignity."
Arroyo, whose popularity is the lowest in three years as soaring prices slowed growth and slashed incomes, spoke in Filipino, which was not translated. Afterwards, Bush joked: "I couldn't have said it better myself."
The visit by Arroyo, a US ally in the "war on terror," was expected to finally put an end to tensions caused by her pullout of Filipino troops from the US-led coalition in Iraq in 2004, experts said.
"I don't think the pullout substantively impacted the US-Philippine relations but in the political sense, it created an impression that there was space between the US and Philippines," said Walter Lohman, an expert with Washington-based Heritage Foundation.
The Tuesday meeting will also give the unpopular leader some political capital to remain in office until her term ends in 2010, after she survived several political impeachment attempts amid rumors of military coups, he said.
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