In the run-up to the Olympics, the Washington Post runs a pretty candid interview with President Bush, who for maybe the first time ever, sounds like a reasonable human being. Though he’s attending the opening ceremonies, he’s fully aware of the issues, and explained to the reporter, “it’s really hard to tell” whether the country has made any movement on improving its ghastly human rights record. Bush says he presses the issue of religious freedom with China’s president, Hu Jintao.

“My main objective in my discussions on religious freedom is to remind
this new generation of leadership that religion is not to be feared but
to be welcomed in society…” Oh, I think he listens, absolutely. I think he’s interested. . . . He absorbs, he takes in, he listens.”

The Post notes that Bush is amongst the most friendly of U.S. presidents toward China, meeting with the government a record four times. He’s emphasized the importance to reign in repressive governments in Burma and Sudan; he’s also mindful of their overreaching security.

“They’re hypersensitive to a potential terrorist attack,”
Bush said. “And my hope is, of course, that as they have their security
in place, that they’re mindful of the spirit of the Games, and that if
there is a provocation, they handle it in a responsible way without
violence.”

As a religious man, that issue weighs most heavily on him:

“I mean, this is a closed society in many ways,” he said. “The Internet
provides interesting opportunities for people to express themselves.
Sometimes it’s open, sometimes the filters are there. I’ve talked to
the evangelicals who go there who feel like the underground church
movement has gotten a few steps forward, a step-and-a-half back. It’s
really hard to tell.”

Bush Says It’s ‘Important to Engage’ China