[Unidentified Male:] Please raise your right hand and repeat after me. I, George Walker Bush, do solemnly swear.
[George W. Bush, President Of The United States:] I, George Walker Bush, do solemnly swear.
[Joie Chen, Cnn Anchor:] His job began with that simply oath. Now Mr. Bush is nearly 100 days into office. The Bush White House will observe the 100-day mark on Monday, though it does actually happen over the weekend. Today the president was looking back on his own performance over these 100 days with CNN senior White House correspondent, John King, asking some tough questions today. John, what did you hear from the president?
[John King, Cnn Correspondent:] Well, Joie, the president's term, "pretty darn good." That's his assessment of the first almost-100 days in office. Mr. Bush saying he thinks he's making considerable progress on the domestic agenda, the signature issues there, of course, tax cuts and education reform. But the president has raised some eyebrows, not only here in Washington but around the world with some remarks about Taiwan in the past 24 hours, as he gives these 100-day interviews the president publicly saying that the United States would defend Taiwan if it were attacked by mainland China. Now, that's a break from 20 years of U.S. policy. Past presidents have been deliberately vague on that issue, in part, not to encourage pro-independence forces in Taiwan. In part, to keep the Chinese a bit confused about just what the United States would do. So I asked the president about this today, some concerned raised in Washington. Even some consternation raised that he had said this. The president insisted that he was sticking by that policy, that the United States would defend Taiwan. But he also added some additional remarks. Clearly, the president wanted to take a little step back so not as to encourage pro-independence forces excuse me in Taiwan from doing anything that might antagonize Beijing.
[Bush:] I have said that I will do what it takes to help Taiwan defend herself, and the Chinese must understand that. Secondly, I certainly hope Taiwan adheres to the one-China policy, and a declaration of independence is not the one-China policy. And we'll work with Taiwan to make sure that that doesn't happen. We need a peaceful resolution of this issue.
[King:] Now, Mr. Bush, insisting his comments about defending Taiwan are no big deal, no major break. But if you ask around town, just about everybody disagrees. They say it has been a careful practice, and a deliberate practice of past presidents, now dating back for more than 20 years, to be deliberately ambiguous. Top aids here at the White House say the president believes what he said and has no hesitation about saying it.
[Chen:] John, we have a question from our morning on-line editorial meeting, one of our viewers who wanted to post a question to you. C.J. Mosca: "I would like to ask the president how heavy a role economics and trade played in his handling of the China hostage situation." Did you guys get into that in your conversation today?
[King:] Not directly, and we've talked to the other senior administration officials about that, though. They insist the president handled the standoff as an isolated incident. His top priority, as the president did say in the interview, was to get that crew home. But of course, you can hear the president in the entirety of the interview there's moves in Congress right now because of the anger over the standoff to maybe cut off trade relations, or at least impose sanctions. The president, making clear he wants to continue that trade relationship, that he believes it's good for the U.S. economy, good for U.S. farmers, good for U.S. manufactures. He also believes in time, more trade with China will encourage more freedoms in China.
[Chen:] Our CNN senior White House correspondent, John King, with us from the White House lawn today. You can hear more of what President Bush had to say at 5:00 Eastern this afternoon, right after this program on "INSIDE POLITICS." We'll carry all of John King's interview with the president. And if you are away from your TV, you can see the whole interview at our Web site. We've also got a video calendar that shows highlights of Mr. Bush's first 100 days in office, beginning with the inauguration. You can click on many of the days and watch what happened on those days. Just log on to cnn.com. The AOL keyword is "CNN".