In his opinion, the Beijing Olympics has contributed to the development of Dutch-China relations as more Dutch people are beginning to understand China.

It is "understandable" that there is criticism about China, van den Berg said. "Nobody is perfect."

"A lot of work needs to be done to promote mutual understanding and improve communication between peoples of the Netherlands, Western Europe and China. That is very important," he said.

CHINA A RISING POWER

Speaking about China's role in the world, van den Berg said China's economic development in the coming two decades will make it increasingly important in the world.

"I don't believe that it is China's ambition to have some sort of leadership role in the sense that everybody else has to act like Chinese," he said.

However, China is expected to assume more responsibility on the international stage, he said.

China's strength will not only lie in the volume of its production, but als in the quality of its products, he said. "China is investing a lot in research and development, and it will no doubt achieve (a lot) in that area in the coming 10 to 20 years."

"That is something we will be faced with," he said. "Therefore it is exceedingly important for us to try to get to know Chinese better."

WRONG PERCEPTION ABOUT CHINA

Talking about his life in China, the former ambassador said what struck him most was the openness of the Chinese society, which was quite contrary to what he had read about from news reports.

"Many things can be freely discussed, and the Chinese society is actually much more open and transparent than what we had expected," he said, adding that this could be quite surprising to people like him who visit China for the first time.

"We still use too much the old Cold War framework in the days of the former Soviet Union as a point of reference" to understand China, he said.

Some of the current criticism against China actually stemmed from that wrong perception, he noted.

"That is a totally wrong approach to assess what's happening in present-day China," he said.