Keeping Cool as Beijing Fumes : U.S. should avoid overreacting in confrontation over Taiwan leader’s visit

China, always quick to take offense when it believes its sovereignty has been insulted and never more so than when Taiwan is involved, has summoned home its ambassador to the United States after accusing Washington of unwarranted interference in its internal affairs. The action has produced the sharpest chill in bilateral relations since 1989, when China’s armed forces killed hundreds, perhaps thousands of anti-government protesters in Beijing’s Tian An Men Square.

The immediate issue was the Clinton Administration’s decision, under virtually unanimous urging from Congress, to allow President Lee Teng-hui of Taiwan to make a private visit to Cornell University, where he was once a student. That marked the first time that a leader of Taiwan-- which Beijing insists is not a separate state but a province of China that’s in revolt--has been allowed into this country since Washington switched its diplomatic recognition of China from Taipei to Beijing in December, 1978.

The enormous transformation in Taiwan over the last 16 years--its evolution toward representative government as well as its stunning economic growth--and changing conditions in East Asia have helped soften what had been a fairly rigid U.S. policy of official distance from the island’s government. The George Bush Administration approved sales of F-16 fighters to Taiwan, and a number of President Clinton’s Cabinet officers have visited Taipei. Beijing liked none of this. But only with the Lee visit did it decide to take the step of summoning home its ambassador, Li Daoyu, for “consultations,” a move that in diplomacy is intended to convey strong displeasure.

What happens next will be the key to how far China wants to push this confrontation. Li’s tour of duty was nearing an end in any case. Meanwhile, the U.S. ambassador to Beijing, J. Stapleton Roy, has ended his tour, reportedly unhappy that the Lee visit was approved. Clinton is believed to have taken the customary step of asking the Chinese if Jim Sasser, a former senator from Tennessee, would be acceptable to them as the next ambassador. If Beijing says no, or if it chooses not to return an ambassador to Washington fairly soon, that will be a sign that this latest confrontation could last some time. That may be especially the case if, as many expect, a period of turmoil follows the death of the gravely ill supreme leader, Deng Xiaoping.

However Beijing chooses to view it, Lee’s brief visit did not mark a shift in U.S. policy, and Washington has nothing to regret. Its best course now is to react calmly to China’s agitation. The United States should take its cue from the statement issued by China’s Foreign Ministry, which--once it was through again protesting Lee’s visit--took pains to emphasize the long-term interests shared by China and the United States.