China's President Jiang Wins Gingrich's Vote on Capitol Hill Visit | LA Times - Oct. 31, 1997 |

Gingrich's stance is particularly significant because he presides over the House, whose members over the last eight years have been the driving force behind legislative measures aimed at China.

The Senate has been consistently less willing to support such legislation, including failed efforts to restrict China's trade benefits.

For the last two years, Gingrich has tried to maintain a careful balance between Republican conservatives who seek a more confrontational U.S. stance against China and business-oriented Republicans who favor a policy of engagement.

He has also talked several times to former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger, who has argued that China is too important to alienate.

The House speaker, who visited China last spring, said he plans to return next summer--to visit Tibet.

"I hope he [Jiang] and the Dalai Lama will be there to meet me," he said.
It was difficult to tell whether Gingrich intended these last words to be taken seriously. The Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader, has not set foot in Tibet since he fled into exile in 1959, and Beijing has been unwilling to allow even his picture to be displayed there.