BEIJING, Nov 20: Irked by a reporter who told him he seemed to be ‘off his game’ at a Beijing public appearance, President George W. Bush sought to make a hasty exit from a news conference but was thwarted by locked doors.

At the end of a day of meetings with Chinese President Hu Jintao and other Chinese officials, Bush held a session with a small group of US reporters and spoke at length about issues like religious freedom, Iraq and the Chinese currency.

The final reporter he called on critiqued Bush’s performance earlier in the day when he stood next to Hu in the Great Hall of the People on Tiananmen Square to deliver a statement.

“Respectfully, sir — you know we’re always respectful — in your statement this morning with President Hu, you seemed a little off your game, you seemed to hurry through your statement. There was a lack of enthusiasm. Was something bothering you?” he asked.

“Have you ever heard of jet lag?” Bush responded. “Well, good. That answers your question.”

The president then recited a list of things of that he viewed as positive developments from his Beijing meetings, including cooperation on North Korean nuclear disarmament and the ability to have ‘frank discussions’ with his Chinese counterpart.

When the reporter asked for ‘a very quick follow-up’, Bush cut him off by thanking the press corps and telling the reporter, ‘No you may not’, as he strode toward a set of double doors leading out of the room.

The only problem was that they were locked.

“I was trying to escape. Obviously, it didn’t work,” Bush quipped, facing reporters again until an aide rescued him by pointing to him toward the correct door.—Reuters