Clinton tells China forum he hopes for female US president

Former US President Bill Clinton hopes there will be a woman in the White House in his lifetime, he told a Chinese audience on Monday.

His wife Hillary, who earlier this year stepped down as US secretary of state, has not yet said whether she plans another presidential run after her failed 2008 bid for the Democratic nomination.

“I hope we have a woman president in my lifetime, and I think it would be a good thing for the world as well as for America,” Clinton said at a conference organised by the respected Chinese financial magazine Caijing.

“But I do not know if she’s going to run, and there is no such thing as a sure thing in politics,” he added.

In a question-and-answer session before a standing-room-only crowd in a Beijing hotel ballroom, Clinton, who was president from 1993 to 2001, was asked whether he envisages becoming a “first husband” in the future.

“You know, if I knew the answer to that, I couldn’t say,” he responded. “But I can give you an honest answer: I have no idea.”