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Bush in China for 1st overseas trip after presidency

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-04-20 08:13

Former US president George W. Bush cracked jokes about how he scoops up after his dog on neighborhood walks and then turned to more serious subjects like terrorism and the financial crisis on Saturday during his first overseas trip since leaving office.

Premier Wen Jiabao stands with former US president George W. Bush during the Boao Forum on Saturday. [Agencies]

Bush - who is attending the Boao Forum For Asia - also shared some of his most unusual moments with leaders, including the time he listened to former Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi sing Hound Dog while visiting Graceland mansion, home to the late Elvis Presley in Memphis, Tennessee.

The stories drew laughter and applause from the audience in a huge banquet hall at the forum, an annual conference where executives hobnob with global leaders at a resort on China's southern tropical island province of Hainan.

Bush said after he left the White House and moved into his new home in Dallas, Texas, he decided to take his Scottish terrier Barney for a walk. To be a good neighbor, he said he carried a plastic bag so he could clean up his dog's droppings. The task seemed ironic to him, he said.

"I was picking up what I had been dodging for eight years," Bush said.

The former president said after he left the presidency in January, he plopped down on the couch and said: "Free at last."

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But his wife, Laura, piped in: "You're free to do the dishes," he said.

After a few other jokes, Bush shifted to more serious topics. Although this was his first trip overseas since leaving office, it was his second speech in a foreign country. Last month, Bush spoke in Calgary, Canada.

Bush urged global leaders to continue the struggle against terrorism and to support the young democracies in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He said the economic center of the world was shifting to Asia, which accounts for 55 percent of the global economy. China will continue to be of high importance to the US, he said. "It's just mind boggling how this country has changed," he added.

AP