Explained: What happened when a US House Speaker visited Taiwan in 1997?

China has responded to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visiting Taiwan despite warnings to stay away with fire and fury –  a slew of trade curbs against Taipei as well as live-fire military drills meant to intimidate. After Pelosi became the highest-profile elected US official to visit Taiwan in 25 years, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying vowed Wednesday that the response would be “resolute, forceful and effective”. China considers Taiwan its territory and tries to keep it isolated internationally, opposing countries from maintaining official contacts with the self-ruled democratic island. But Beijing took a very different the last time the US House Speaker – second in line to the US presidency – visited Taiwan in 1997. Let’s cast an eye back at the visit of then Speaker and Republican Newt Gingrich: First, it is important to look at the prevailing situation around that time in the US, China and Taiwan. In Taiwan, then president Lee Teng-hui had returned to office by a large margin after the country’s first direct presidential election. [caption id=“attachment_8657931” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] File image of Taiwan’s former president Lee Teng-hui. AP[/caption] China, which was not yet a superpower, particularly loathed Lee because he favoured Taiwan declaring itself an independent state. Beijing had repeatedly conducted missile tests to intimidate Taiwan and only backed down after the US dispatched two aircraft carrier groups to the region. Meanwhile, in the US, Bill Clinton was back in the Oval Office after the 1996 election with Republicans under Gingrich, a thorn in his side, retaining control of Congress. Gingrich’s startling statement on Taiwan In March 1997, Gingrich led a delegation of 13 US House representatives on a series of visits to South Korea, Japan, China and Hong Kong just months before the territory’s handover to Beijing.

Gingrich’s stopover in Taiwan on 2 April was unannounced.

But even before the trip, Gingrich made some eyebrow-raising statements. The then House Speaker startled many including those in his own administration by warning China’s leadership that the United States would intervene militarily if Taiwan was attacked. Washington had, in 1979, revoked its diplomatic ties and its mutual defence treaty with Taiwan and established formal diplomatic relations with mainland China. Washington follows a one-China policy, which recognises Beijing but allows informal relations and defence ties with Taipei. It provides arms to Taiwan and follows a ‘strategic ambiguity’ policy about how far it would be willing to go to defend Taiwan in the face of a Chinese invasion. At the same time, it does not support Taiwanese independence. As per The New York Times, Gingrich, leaving for Tokyo after a three-day visit to China, speaking about his meetings with the leadership said, ‘‘I said firmly, ‘We want you to understand, we will defend Taiwan. Period.’ ’’ ‘‘I think that they are more aware now that we would defend Taiwan if it were militarily attacked,” he added.

Gingrich described the response from Beijing and Shanghai as ‘calm’.

‘‘We never got into an argument,’’ Gingrich said. ‘‘They never said, ‘Well you can’t have that right – that’s interference.’ They said, ‘O.K., noted.’ And then they basically would say: ‘Since we don’t intend to attack, you won’t have to defend. Let’s go on and talk about how we’re going to get this thing solved.’ And I think that’s very healthy.’’ Gingrich delivered his message to Wang Daohan, then China’s chief representative in talks with Taiwan. Gingrich said he had given the same message to then president Jiang Zemin and then prime minister Li Peng in Beijing, as per The New York Times. Jiang responded by urging Gingrich to treat the Taiwan issue with care. ‘Speaking for himself’ [caption id=“attachment_10062621” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] File image of Bill Clinton. AP[/caption] A Clinton administration official responded to Gingrich’s statements by saying he had received briefings about American policy toward China, but that Gingrich ‘‘was speaking for himself’’ in his conversations with Chinese leaders, as per The New York Times. The White House had issued a statement saying that the policy of the United States was to ‘‘meet its obligation under the Taiwan Relations Act, including the maintenance of an adequate self-defence for Taiwan,’’ and that the administration would maintain its ‘‘one-China policy, the fundamental bedrock of which is that both parties peacefully address the Taiwan issue.’ Objection, precondition and visit Gingrich told Voice of America the Chinese leaders initially objected to the Taiwan stop but eventually tolerated it after he threatened to otherwise skip Beijing on his itinerary. As per CNA, Gingrich said Beijing laid one precondition: not to fly directly to Taiwan from the Chinese mainland. After he wrapped up meetings in Beijing and Shanghai, including with senior Chinese leaders, Gingrich flew to Tokyo and then to Taipei, as per the report. During the Taiwan visit that lasted just under three hours on 2 April 1997, Gingrich met with then president Lee and then-vice president Lien Chan at the Presidential Office building in Taipei.

But Gingrich wasn’t done yet.  

As per CNA, before leaving Taiwan, he reiterated that both sides of the Taiwan Strait should clearly understand that the US would take ‘any means necessary’ to stop Beijing from attempting to annex Taiwan by force or intimidation. The Lee administration then issued a statement stressing that the Republic of China (Taiwan) was a sovereign democratic state that “did not need to declare independence,” and that the nation hoped to address cross-strait issues through peaceful dialogue, as per CNA. Incidentally, Gingrich was among the many lawmakers from both sides of the aisle urging Pelosi to visit Taiwan. [caption id=“attachment_11002721” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.[/caption] “It would make it look like America can be shoved around,” Gingrich, speaking to VOA’s Mandarin Service, reasoned.

Gingrich added that the trip would likely only amount to “an irritation” to US-China ties.

“I think this is at one level a lot of noise about nothing,” Gingrich said. “I think if she holds her ground, and if the Biden administration doesn’t act timidly and almost cowardly, I think everything will be fine.” As per the Wall Street Journal, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian last week slammed Gingrich’s record when it comes to Taiwan, saying “some US politicians would stoke tensions in China-US relations, turmoil across the Taiwan Strait and instability in the world only to benefit themselves.” ‘Previous mistake does not make following mistake legitimate’ China on Wednesday attempted to downplay any comparisons between the visits by Pelosi and Gingrich. As per the Wall Street Journal, China’s representative to the United Nations sought to cast Gingrich’s trip as a mistake. “A previous mistake does not make the following mistake legitimate,” the newspaper quoted Ambassador Zhang Jun, who currently holds the rotating presidency of the United Nations Security Council, as saying at a press briefing Monday in New York. The newspaper last week quoted Ambassador Zhang as blaming unnamed “external forces” for changing the situation around Taiwan for the worse. Without prompt containment measures against them, he said, the situation risked getting out of control. Zhang had said a Taiwan visit by Pelosi would be “dangerous and provocative,” and would undermine China-US relations. With inputs from agencies Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook ,  Twitter  and  Instagram .