Bill Clinton: “Well, for one thing, at that time I had very little understanding. It's still the most populous country in the world…”

“Well, for one thing, at that time I had very little understanding. It's still the most populous country in the world, but I think one is immediately struck by the dramatic economic growth and by the opening of China to the rest of the world, in terms of learning, the quest for information. You know, I went to that Internet cafe this morning. And watching the Chinese young people get on the Internet and go all over the world looking for information, this is, I think, a very important development. I also believe there is a genuine increase in people's control over their own lives. Incomes are going up; people have more choices in education, more choice in jobs, the freedom to travel. The state-run industries are going down in relative importance, and cooperatives and private businesses are coming up. And there's more say at the grassroots level now over who the local leaders are and what their policies are. So I think there's a genuine movement toward openness and freedom in China, which obviously, as an American and as an American President, I hope will continue and increase and which I believe is right--morally right, but I also think it's good for China.”