CHINA was becoming more democratic and Chinese people were enjoying more freedom since China began to open up in 1978, said former U.S. President George H. Bush. He made the remarks during a recent exclusive interview with China News Service in Houston, Texas. The changes had also benefited the United States, he said.

Bush Senior was U.S. president from 1989 to 1993. He had the chance to serve as ambassador to France or Britain in 1974, which were very appealing positions, but he proposed to work in China. “I realized that the future of America would be closely related to China at that time,” he said.

When he served as chief of the U. S. Liaison Office in China from 1974 to 1975, his impression of China was that it was “gray” and “closed.” All the people wore gray and old clothes and didn’t seem to want to communicate with foreigners, Bush Senior said.

But when he came to China for the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games this year, he was most impressed with the changes that had taken place. “These changes could not have been imagined in the 70s,” he said.

The most prominent change was that China had become more open. When China was restored to its seat in the United Nations in 1971, it did not very actively establish relations with other countries. Now, however, China played a very important role in international issues, Bush Senior said.

(Cui Xiaoli)