MR. WILDER: I think it has made a difference. I would not say that progress is by leaps and bounds. The Chinese system structurally does not move very quickly in these areas. But I think we have seen, if you talk to Christians, certainly, about the growth of the church in China -- some people think there are a hundred million Christians now in China. That has happened in a relatively short period of time. And that means that while these churches may not be registered and the house churches may not receive the kind of treatment by the Chinese government we would like to see them receive, it does mean that people are able to express their religious faith in China. It's just that, unfortunately, these churches are now unregistered, as opposed to registered, and we would like to see the government -- very much like to see the government register these churches so that they aren't living, as it were, on the fringe of Chinese law.

So I think, certainly in the area of religion, if you look back over the 30 years of the relationship or even the last eight years of the relationship, the room for religious expression has grown in China.

seen at 09:00, 30 July in Whitehouse Press Briefings. Email this to a friend.
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