Bush’s ideas and assumptions about America’s relationship with China were forged during his short stint as head of the U.S. liaison office there from 1974 to 1975. In the late Mao years, China was a deeply controlled, repressive country. Bush never saw firsthand the movement for change that gradually began to gather in China over the decade following Mao’s death—both within Chinese society and, importantly, within the ranks of the Party.
James Lilley, U.S. Ambassador to Beijing during the 1989 Tiananmen protests, later recalled that Bush had underestimated what was happening and that he thought the crisis might have a peaceful outcome. According to Lilley, who was an old friend of Bush, the president was under the misimpression that violence could be avoided because Deng Xiaoping was fully in charge of the country and always knew how to make things come out well.
