But it's doubtful that the Beijing leadership got a clearer view of U.S. policy from the visits of Vice President Gore and House Speaker Gingrich.
Gore, a good soldier dutifully following the Clinton administration line of engagement with China, soft-pedaled complaints about China's human rights abuses, sales of nuclear weapons to Pakistan and violations of international trade agreements. He hailed what he claimed were advances in democracy in China. And he attended a ceremony for the signing of Chinese contracts with Boeing and General Motors, symbolizing the emphasis Washington currently places on doing business with China. The Chinese could hardly have been more pleased.
This was the same Al Gore who, as a senator, denounced the Bush administration for sending a secret emissary to Beijing in 1989 after the Tiananmen Square massacre and called for a tougher stand against Chinese abuses.
Gingrich, on the other hand, was outspoken in his message of concern about China's human rights abuses and suppression of dissent. He asserted that the United States would defend Taiwan from an attack by China, an issue that the Clinton administration has skirted. And he insisted on adding Taiwan to his itinerary.
Gingrich, of course, is not bound by the strictures of administration policy and is free to speak his mind as Gore is not. His candid remarks undoubtedly reflected many Americans' views on China's faults -- including perhaps Gore's.
As for defending Taiwan against Chinese attack, this was implied in the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, which committed the U.S. to assist Taiwan's defense efforts although Washington had transferred diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing.
The Clinton administration sent a clear signal of its intentions a year ago when it dispatched two aircraft carrier groups in response to China's launching of missiles near Taiwan and other threatening gestures at the time of the presidential election. But the administration has been unwilling to commit itself publicly to Taiwan's defense. Gingrich's blunt warning is unauthorized and embarrassing but probably accurate.
As the leaders of a dictatorship, President Jiang Zemin and company may find it confusing to deal with the conflicting messages sent by Gore and Gingrich, representing different branches of the U.S. government. They may remember how the Clinton administration assured them it would not grant Taiwan's President Lee Teng-hui permission to make an unofficial visit -- only to be forced to reverse itself in the face of pressure from Congress.
It isn't easy for the U.S. to deal with the repressive regime in China. It isn't easy either for the Chinese to deal with a free-wheeling democracy. But we have to try.
Giuliani's action will please non-diplomats -- many of them voters -- trying to find parking on the streets of Manhattan, and there undoubtedly have been abuses by foreign missions. However, in trying to resolve this bit of international strife, Giuliani could have used a little more, well, diplomacy.
Therein lies an inherent contradiction in ecotourism. Unless it is practiced with restraint, it could destroy the environment the people want to experience.
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