You Can't Please Everyone.(George W. Bush's first 100 days in office; international views)(Brief Article)

People in other countries thought they knew what to expect from George W. Bush. He was, after all, his father's son. Although the new president lacked his parent's long experience in world affairs, he was buffered by advisers from the previous Bush administration. But judging from his reviews in the world press, Bush has disappointed--even alarmed--more people abroad than he has pleased in his first hundred days. With no apparent sense of irony, Hong Kong's South China Morning Post accuses him of "acting like a bull in a china shop at times." The German magazine Stern says, "Ugly America has a face again."

Bush aggravates the problem by shunning diplomatic doublespeak; he tends to say what he believes. His latest challenge to China is a case in point. For nearly 30 years, U.S. presidents applied "strategic ambiguity" to the standoff between Beijing and Taiwan. Then, last week, Bush said bluntly he would do "whatever it took" to defend Taiwan (a view popular with the American right).

Many people in other countries were taken aback by some of Bush's early actions on the environment, notably his repudiation of the Kyoto Protocol on global warming. "Bush reserves the right to pollute the planet," announced the left-leaning French daily Liberation. "Many countries had hoped that Mr. Bush the Texas anti-environmentalist would be transformed into something less hick once he got behind the desk in the Oval Office," wrote The Press of New Zealand, adding the hope "has proved ill-founded."

There are still other grievances. Mexicans were pleased when Bush chose their nation for his first foreign trip--and then displeased when he bombed Iraq during the summit. Russians look at Bush's plan to expand NATO and build a missile-defense system, and conclude that he is out to get them. Yevgeny ...