Bush sees Asian as next UN chief

President Bush said the next United Nations secretary-general is expected to come from Asia.

From endorsing any current candidate, however, he kept his discussion hypothetical.

"As I understand it, traditionally... regions rotate, and we're really looking in the Far East right now to be the secretary-general," Mr. Bush said in an interview on Monday with print reporters with Russia, Japan, Italy and Germany.

For example, he said he will not be against a moderate Muslim being the next Secretary General of the United Nations as long as the candidate is willing to "blow the whistle" on human rights abuses.

Candidates in the fray to succeed Secretary General Kofi Annan include Thailand's Surakiart Sathirathai who is seen as the candidate of the Asea, India's Shashi Tharoor, Sri Lanka's Jayantha Dhanapala and South Korea's Foreign Minister Ban ki Moon.

He was asked to comment on a name that has recently surfaced - Prince Zeid of the Jordanian Royal Family - as a probable successor to Mr. Annan.

"So this is the first I've heard of this suggestion. And you'll find that we will work closely with friends and allies to come up with the best candidate, but we won't be committing publicly, like you're trying to get me to do," Mr. Bush said.

He stressed he will not be against a Muslim candidate.

"Not at all, [I] would not be against a Muslim. The criterion I'm for is somebody who wants to spread liberty and enhance the peace, do difficult things like confront tyranny, worry about the human condition, blow the whistle on human rights violations," he said.

(Agencies. Bangkok Post.)