US President George W. Bush (L) talks with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin (R) before a banquet for heads of state in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on August 8, 2008. President Bush made a new plea for freedom of expression in China just hours before the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. The US leader, who has said he does not want to politicise his attendance at the Games, said he could be candid with China because the two countries had built up a strong relationship built on 