Bush to reassure Asia allies after election blow

SINGAPORE, Nov 16 (Reuters) A politically weakened US President George W Bush returned to the world stage today to reassure Asian allies he remains committed to confronting a nuclear North Korea, fighting terrorism and liberalising trade.

Bush flew to Singapore at the start of a three-nation trip seeking to shore up his international standing a week after a stinging defeat in congressional elections seen as a rebuke to his Iraq war policy and a grim omen for the rest of his term.

The centrepiece of his travels will be a Pacific Rim economic summit hosted by Vietnam, a former foe turned trading partner. There he will have a chance to bolster a fragile coalition pressing North Korea to curb its nuclear programme.

Asian partners will also be worried about whether Bush can deliver on his free-trade agenda after the Democrats, traditional critics of such legislation, grabbed control of Congress from his Republican Party in the November 7 polls.

Bush suffered an embarrassing blow when a historic bill to normalise trade with communist Vietnam failed to win enough votes to pass the US House of Representatives this week.

''It is unfortunate that it could not have been done before the president arrived but I think the message for the Vietnamese people will be, this is going to get done,'' said White House National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley.

Another key indicator will be whether Bush can turn up the heat on North Korea ahead of renewed six-party talks with Pyongyang after its first nuclear test last month.

The trip, which takes him on his first visit to Vietnam, puts him face-to-face with leaders of the four other countries pressuring Pyongyang -- Russia, Japan, China and South Korea -- on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Hanoi tomorrow and on Saturday.

LOOKING FOR SIGNS OF WEAKNESS ''Asian leaders will be looking at President Bush's body language,'' said Michael Green, a Washington-based Asia expert.

''They're going to be all looking to see how he plays the game after this political setback.'' Overhanging Bush's first post-election foreign trip is the Iraq war, so unpopular that he is facing growing pressure for a change of course. Bush has ordered the consolidation of the administration's internal review of Iraq policy, Hadley said.

Also looming are Iran's nuclear ambitions. Iran says it is only developing a civilian programme, but the new discovery of traces of plutonium in Iran by the International Atomic Energy Agency has increased concern it is seeking nuclear weapons.

Bush made a brief refuelling stop in Moscow and met Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose backing Washington wants for a tougher line against both Tehran and Pyongyang.

The Kremlin said Bush and Putin agreed to sign a bilateral deal in Hanoi for Russia's accession to the World Trade Organisation, clearing an irritant in relations. But Hadley said he was not sure the deal would be finalised on the trip.

In Singapore, Hanoi and at a final stop in Indonesia, Bush will make a renewed push for free-market reforms and urge resolve in the fight against Islamic militancy that threatens security in parts of Southeast Asia. He was to deliver a speech in Singapore that aides said would set the tone for his trip.

Bush started his visit at an Asian Civilisations Museum, where he was coaxed into trying his hand on an Asian-style xylophone. He also was due to meet Singapore's leaders.

Behind closed doors in Hanoi, some Asian leaders were expected to raise with Bush concerns about China's rising military and economic might.

Bush will become the second US president to visit Vietnam -- after Bill Clinton -- since the war there that traumatized America a generation ago.

Bush plans to focus on Vietnam as an emerging economic success story, but he will be unable to escape comparisons between the Vietnam conflict and the 3-1/2-year-old Iraq war.

Reuters DKA GC1122