President Bush praised the spread of freedom in Asia while training a harsh spotlight Thursday on the region’s democratic laggards, sharply criticizing oppression and human rights abuses in China, Myanmar and North Korea.

Bush’s speech, outlining America’s achievements and challenges in Asia as he wraps up eight years in office, came on the same day he was due to arrive in Beijing to attend the opening ceremonies of the Olympics and several days of competition. China has rounded up opponents and slapped restrictions on journalists, betraying promises made when it landed the hosting rights.

Chinese officials had bristled at Bush’s criticism and his meeting with Chinese activists at the White House last week. A spokeswoman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing said there was no comment at this time to the speech, but the country’s leaders were unlikely to be pleased at the criticism on the eve of their proud moment as Olympic hosts.

At the same time, Bush has come under pressure to use his Beijing visit to openly press China’s leaders for greater religious tolerance and other freedoms.

The White House’s handling of the speech demonstrated the president’s delicate balancing act.

In what appeared to be an effort to ease embarrassment for Beijing as it prepared for its splashy appearance on the world stage, Bush’s address containing the criticism of China was delivered outside the country, in Thailand. The White House took the unusual step of releasing the text of it even earlier, about 18 hours before he spoke.

And the speech was followed by a string of events Thursday, by both the president and his wife, Laura, that were clearly aimed at shifting the focus to the repressive military regime in Myanmar, neighbor to Thailand, where Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej regards himself as a friend of Myanmar’s generals. Myanmar, also known as Burma, marks the 20th anniversary of a brutal crackdown on pro-democracy activists on Friday.

The Bush administration has become increasingly vocal about Myanmar in recent months, blaming a corrupt regime for failing to help its citizens after a devastating cyclone in May, in large part by initially failing to accept international help and then only with tight restrictions, and for violently suppressing democracy demonstrations by Buddhist monks in last September’s so-called Saffron Revolution.

Mrs. Bush, the administration’s highest-profile spokeswoman on the issue, flew for the day to northwestern Thailand to visit a border refugee camp. The camp in Mae La is home to 38,000 Karen, an ethnic minority that human rights organizations say is the target of an ongoing Myanmar military campaign marked by murders of civilians, rapes and razing of villages. She also stopped at a health clinic run by a woman known as the “Mother Teresa of Burma.”

Remaining in Bangkok, the president was briefed at the U.S. ambassador’s residence on recovery from the cyclone that devastated Myanmar’s heartland and killed more than 80,000 people, had lunch with nine Burmese activists and did an interview with local radio journalists in hopes of influencing events across the border.

Bush told the activists that he wanted to hear their stories and get advice on how the U.S. can help their cause.

“I’m always inspired by acts of courage, and I’m having lunch with courageous people,” he said.

Bush’s speech had been expected to prominently feature Myanmar. But it contained only a brief _ though blunt _ mention of the reclusive nation.

One of the world’s poorest countries, Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962, when the latest junta came to power after brutally crushing a pro-democracy uprising in 1988.

“Together, we seek an end to tyranny in Burma,” Bush said, calling for the release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and all other political prisoners. “We will continue working until the people of Burma have the freedom they deserve.”

In perhaps his last major address in Asia, Bush said America speaks out for a free press, free assembly and labor rights in China, and against its detentions of political dissidents, human rights advocates and religious activists, not to antagonize its leaders, but because it’s the only path the potent U.S. rival can take to reach its full potential.

“We press for openness and justice not to impose our beliefs, but to allow the Chinese people to express theirs,” he said.

As balance, Bush offered praise for China’s market reforms.

“Change in China will arrive on its own terms and in keeping with its own history and its own traditions. Yet change will arrive,” he said.

“With this speech, Bush is trying to address two polar issues: easing the controversy created by those who oppose his visit during the Games and simultaneously maintaining America’s strategy with China,” said Yan Xuetong, an expert in U.S.-China relations at Beijing’s prestigious Tsinghua University.

“China’s foreign policy will have a moderate response to Bush’s speech, because they want and need him to attend the opening ceremonies,” Yan said. “The most they may say is something about not meddling in China’s domestic affairs.”

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd urged the international community “to speak with a strong and united voice” to maintain pressure on China over human rights. But he conceded Beijing’s record has improved.

“Remember, it was not all that long ago they were in the middle of the cultural revolution with people getting put up against a wall and basically knocked off,” he told Nine Network television before flying to Beijing himself.

Bush urged North Korea to live up to its promise to dismantle its nuclear weapons, adding: “The United States will continue to insist that the regime in Pyongyang end its harsh rule and respect the dignity and human rights of the North Korean people.”

About 25 people around the convention center where Bush spoke welcomed him. But a Muslim group shouted “Bush, get out. God is great” as the presidential motorcade passed. The protesters handed out leaflets saying “George Bush is a war criminal.”

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Associated Press writers Ben Feller in Bangkok, Chi-Chi Zhang in Beijing and Ambika Ahuja in Tha Song Yang, Thailand, contributed to this story.