Bush made the remarks at the China Development Forum Special Session held in Beijing.

In a session on the challenges and prospects of China-US relations since 1979, he and four other speakers–including Joshua Cooper Ramo, Mark Brzezinski, Wang Boming and Zhang Baijia–retraced the legacy of previous efforts to build bilateral ties and explored the underlying issues of China-US trade conflicts and tensions.

Worrying about the Trump administration's treatment of China as a foe, Bush suggested the US should embrace a George H.W. Bush style of leadership.

According to Bush, this is an approach that "wants to create and maintain multiple levels of frequent dialogue; that seeks to build trust; that puts the parties in the other guy's shoes; that looks for the best in others; that is respectful; that accounts for cultural differences".

He said the fear of China's growth posing a threat to the US, rising nationalism shown in Trump's "anti-immigrant, anti-Chinese, pro-America-first rhetoric", and the false premise that only a Western-style democracy can be a civilized player on the global stage are the three main contributors to the demonization of China in the US.

"The bottom line is that our system of government, our democracy doesn't work for China, just as China's system doesn't work for the US," said Bush, while cautioning the US "not to meddle too much in the internal affairs of China" especially given the US' own issues in a "divided country".