Chapter 9 Chapter IX Two Struggles in Taiwan-Related Diplomacy

All the world's major powers have pledged to pursue a one-China policy, but the Taiwan issue has been a focal point of China's diplomatic struggles.Under the instigation of various anti-China forces, a small number of countries often take actions that violate their commitments. The French arms sale to Taiwan from 1991 to 1992 and the diplomatic struggle caused by the United States allowing Lee Teng-hui to visit the United States in 1995 are two prominent examples. France is the first major western country to establish diplomatic relations at the ambassadorial level with my country.In the past 40 years of exchanges, Sino-French relations have always developed relatively smoothly.However, in the early 1990s, France suddenly sold arms to Taiwan twice, which once made the relationship between the two countries extremely tense and seriously damaged the long-term friendly relationship between China and France.

In April 1991, French Foreign Minister Dumas visited China.As the most senior official of the French government who visited China after the political turmoil in 1989, we gave him very high reception standards.General Secretary Jiang Zemin and Premier Li Peng met with him respectively, and I had a long talk with him. Sino-French relations are being restored. Unexpectedly, at the reception held by the French ambassador to China Maarten for Dima's visit to China, Foreign Minister Dima invited me aside alone, and raised the issue of France's plan to sell frigates to Taiwan as if inadvertently.

Dima's move took me by surprise.The issue of France trying to sell arms to Taiwan arose in 1989. Later, after the work of the Chinese side, France officially decided not to sell such military equipment to Taiwan, and Foreign Minister Dima himself reported to my country on January 6, 1990 Zhou Jue, the ambassador to France, made a face-to-face promise: "The top leaders of France have decided that France will not continue to do warship business with Taiwan." Only one year has passed, and Sino-French relations are recovering and improving. Why does Foreign Minister Dima want to Rehash the past?

As foreign minister, Dima is clearly aware of the sensitivity and seriousness of this issue, and is also very aware of the firm position of the Chinese government on this issue.Before this visit to China, the French side did not disclose any information about this matter, nor did it mention this matter during the official talks with me.This is of course to avoid a head-on confrontation between the two sides.Naturally, the atmosphere at the reception should be relaxed and casual, and Dima wanted to make some experiments first. Dima said that as the international situation changes, countries' policies on the Taiwan issue are also being adjusted.France believes the time is ripe for doing business with Taiwan.France is ready to cooperate with Taiwan on projects such as environmental protection, sewage treatment, high-speed trains, and frigates.However, France will not sell offensive military equipment, such as fighter jets, to Taiwan that is unfavorable to China-this is obviously an excuse.

Dima went on to explain that France intends to sell frigates to Taiwan for two considerations: First, frigates are defensive rather than offensive.This business is a big deal for the French shipyard.Second, the United States has sold four frigates to Taiwan. As a sovereign country, France should not be discriminated against on such issues.The United States cannot be allowed to monopolize the advantages and make a fortune alone. In order to sell arms to Taiwan, the French foreign minister actually put on an anti-American stance, but he used the American rhetoric of "equity of interests" as an excuse.

Although the reception is not a place for debate, I still feel the need to state China's solemn position on this matter.I said that China's principled position on the Taiwan issue is very clear. We have no objection to France doing business with Taiwan to make money, but selling arms to Taiwan involves China's sovereignty and security. This is a matter of principle.As for the issue of US arms sales to Taiwan, it is a problem left over from history.In the past, the United States stationed troops in Taiwan and signed a military treaty with Taiwan. When China and the United States established diplomatic relations, the two sides reached an agreement on the severance of diplomatic relations between the United States and Taiwan, the abolition of the treaty, and the withdrawal of troops. However, the sale of arms by the United States to Taiwan is a legacy issue.From 1979 to 1982, after three years of negotiations, China and the United States have reached an agreement to impose various restrictions on US arms sales to Taiwan, one of which is to reduce year by year and finally terminate.

Dima obviously did not want to accept my explanation. With resentment, he said that after the establishment of diplomatic relations with China, the United States could sell arms to Taiwan by signing an agreement. However, France established diplomatic relations with China much earlier than the United States. Arms sales to Taiwan agreement, now can not sell arms to Taiwan. Dima's remarks made me feel that his talk of selling frigates to Taiwan at the reception was not casual or a general temptation, but a deliberate arrangement.The relaxed atmosphere at the reception cannot conceal the seriousness of this problem.Afterwards, we learned that before Foreign Minister Dima's visit to China, he had a full discussion with President Mitterrand on this matter, and the intention of the French government is obvious.

Therefore, I instructed the Chinese embassy in France and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to make serious representations to relevant parties in France as soon as possible. On May 7, 1991, Cai Fangbai, the Chinese ambassador to France, urgently met with Bianco, Secretary General of the French Presidential Office, Ripert, Foreign Affairs Adviser to the Prime Minister, and Scheer, Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and made solemn representations about France's reconsideration of selling warships to Taiwan. On May 9, Yang Guirong, Director-General of the Department of Western Europe of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, had an urgent meeting with Shi Nai, Minister Counselor of the French Embassy in China. Tough negotiations, asking the French side to abide by the promise made by Foreign Minister Dima to China in early 1990, and not to make the wrong decision to sell Taiwan's warships.

In the face of China's representations, the reactions of several French officials were similar.First of all, from the perspective of economic interests, how important the sale of warships to Taiwan is to France.Then, from a military point of view, the frigate is only defensive and does not pose a threat to mainland China.Then use the United States as a shield.It is said that the United States can sell arms to Taiwan, why can't France?In the end, he argued that the sale of warships to Taiwan was only an intention, not a final decision. On June 1, 1991, Premier Li Peng met with and hosted a banquet for de Georges, chairman of French General Electric Alstom, and his delegation.Premier Li focused on France's arms sales to Taiwan, and asked Chairman De Giorgio to send a message to French leaders after returning home: Chinese leaders value Sino-French relations, but firmly oppose France's arms sales to Taiwan.

Premier Li Peng said that China has no objection to the development of economic and trade relations between Western European countries, including France, and Taiwan, but two points should be paid attention to: first, such economic and trade exchanges can only be unofficial and non-governmental; second, such exchanges cannot include Arms trade, because selling arms involves defense issues. According to De George's later recollection, after the dinner with Premier Li Peng, he immediately made a phone call and informed the relevant senior people in France. On June 6, after returning to Paris, he made a detailed report to the French government that night.

However, the situation took a turn for the worse and quickly developed in a direction that China did not want to see. On June 6, 1991, Dima wrote to me and made the following notification on France’s plans to sell warships to Taiwan. body and shipboard equipment, excluding weapons.The French side made this decision after careful consideration and took note of China's legitimate concerns about its security.This is a purely commercial act and does not involve any official relationship with the Taiwan authorities.The French government emphasized that the implementation of this decision will not in any way damage France's consistent position of recognizing the Beijing government as the only legal government of China. The same president, the same foreign minister, and also under the socialist government, why did France change the promise it made just a year ago to "not continue to do warship business with Taiwan"? From the first time Dima mentioned this matter to me on April 30, to when he notified me of the formal decision of the French side on June 6, there was only 36 days between them. Why did the French government make such an important decision, a decision that will definitely arouse strong dissatisfaction from the Chinese side, and a decision that may lead to a serious setback in the relationship between the two countries? Frankly speaking, we didn't know it at the time, we just felt something was wrong.It was later discovered that behind the French arms sales to Taiwan, there was a big scandal known as the "Lafayette scandal".The cloud of suspicion hanging over this scandal has not completely dissipated so far. At the end of 1993, a dead body was floating on the sea off Suao, Taiwan.After investigation, the deceased was Yin Qingfeng, the missing colonel of Taiwan's "Navy Headquarters".The death of Yin Qingfeng brought to the surface a major fraud case involving French arms sales to Taiwan. According to reports, Yin Qingfeng went to France in September 1993 to inspect the "Lafayette" frigate and found 34 defects, so he opposed the purchase plan.No, he disappeared on December 9 of that year. After Yin Qingfeng's murder was exposed, both Taiwan and France set up special agencies to investigate.So far, the intricate inside story of this fraud case has not been fully revealed.However, judging from the existing clues, this case not only involves a huge amount of money, but also involves high-level "political figures" in France and Taiwan. According to Taiwan media, France sold six frigates to Taiwan in 1991. The total price originally agreed was 11 billion francs, but the final transaction price was as high as 16 billion francs (about 2.7 billion U.S. dollars).This price is more than three times that of Singapore buying the same number of "Lafayette" frigates. In 2001, the main party involved in the arms sales case, former French Foreign Minister Dimas, said in an interview with the French newspaper Le Figaro that the secret commission for the arms sale of the "Lafayette" ship was as high as 500 million U.S. dollars. French politicians benefited. Dima himself was also sentenced to two and a half years in prison by the French judiciary in January 2001 for his involvement in the bribery case, with a two-year reprieve. This scandal brought out a woman who called herself "the whore of the Republic".She is Mrs. Zhong Gu, who is said to be Dima's mistress when he was foreign minister.This unusual woman, in 1991, served as a special public relations consultant for the French Elf Petroleum Company.According to French media reports, in order to open up a channel to sell warships to Taiwan, Thomson, the manufacturer of the "Lafayette" warship, who knew of the "special relationship" between Dima and Mrs. Zhonggu, agreed with Elf for a reward of 6 million US dollars. The company signed a contract and asked Mrs. Zhong Gu to lobby key figures in the French government. I don't know whether it is beauty or money that played a role in the end, and outsiders don't know.What people know now is that Dima, who was a sanctimonious foreign minister, was later involved in lawsuits due to the "'Lafayette scandal'". Mrs. Sentenced to two and a half years in prison. On the Taiwan side, the case revealed by the media is even more confusing, a cloud of fog, and also filled with the smell of blood.In addition to Yin Qingfeng, at least seven other insiders were killed for this, including intelligence officials, "government officials", and banking executives. The case has become political fodder for attacks from various parties on the island.Taiwan's "Chief of General Staff" Hao Baicun revealed in his "Diary of the Chief of Staff" that some high-level figures in Taiwan were insiders back then. Lee Teng-hui, who has always been inseparable, tried his best to make things even more sensational. In November 2001, when he was questioned by the investigation team, he claimed that the purchase of the "Lafayette" warship was made by the former "Chief of General Staff" Hao Baicun, the former "Navy Commander" Ye Changtong and others to deceive the "Commander" .At that time, if he did not agree to this transaction, Taiwan "must definitely have a mutiny." What role did Lee Teng-hui himself play in this fraud case? I believe that time will clear up the fog of history. Taking into account the commitments made by French Foreign Minister Dumas in his letter on June 6 regarding the sale of warships to Taiwan, we proposed to the French side that we are willing to conduct consultations on this matter. Of course, we know very well that it is impossible to change the decision of the French government through consultations.However, through consultations, we can further clarify our position, inform the French side of our interests, and prevent it from going further down this dangerous road in the future.At the same time, some technical measures can also be negotiated to minimize the damage caused by this wrong decision of the French side to the relationship between the two countries. On June 7, Assistant Foreign Minister Jiang Enzhu urgently summoned the French ambassador to China, Maarten, expressing shock at the decision of the French side, demanding that the French side immediately change its decision to sell warships to Taiwan, and at the same time suggesting that China and France discuss this issue as soon as possible. hold consultations.In order to ensure the undisturbed progress of the consultations, the Chinese side asked the French side not to disclose the Taiwan warship sale to the outside world during the consultations. On the same day, Ambassador Cai Fangbai also put forward the same suggestion to the Director of the French Foreign Minister's Office, Kessé Guiyan. The French side first refused to negotiate with the Chinese side on the sale of warships to Taiwan on the grounds that "the decision has been made and there is no need to talk about it."France is worried that facing huge pressure from China in the bilateral consultations, it might mess up the deal of arms sales to Taiwan with a value of more than US$2 billion, and let the "cooked duck" fly away.Later, I was afraid that a head-on confrontation with China would lead to a serious setback in the relationship between the two countries, which was not in the interests of France.After weighing the pros and cons, he decided to adopt a perfunctory strategy to deal with China. On June 11, France officially responded and agreed to negotiate with China. On June 25, 1991, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Tian Zengpei led a Chinese delegation to Paris to negotiate with France on the sale of warships to Taiwan. During the consultations, we tried our best to persuade France to change its decision to sell warships to Taiwan in the light of the overall situation of Sino-French relations.The attitude of the French side is stubborn and rigid. Under such circumstances, the main focus of this consultation is on how to control and reduce the possible negative impact of the French side's wrong decision.The Chinese side requires the French government to issue a communiqué reaffirming France's China policy, especially its position on the Taiwan issue, when it announces the approval of French companies to sell frigates to Taiwan. After repeated exchanges, the French side agreed to issue this communiqué, in which it stated: "The French government has decided to approve French industrialists to negotiate with Taiwan on the sale of frigate hulls that are not equipped with weapons. This is a purely commercial transaction and does not imply any any official relations with the Taiwan authorities. In making this decision, the French government took into account China's concerns about its security and territorial integrity. France reaffirms the statement in the French-Chinese joint declaration of January 1964 that the government of the People's Republic of China is China's The only legal government. France will continue to devote itself to developing friendly relations with the government of the People's Republic of China in various fields." In addition to the above-mentioned communiqué, when Foreign Minister Dima met with Vice Foreign Minister Tian on July 4, he once again verbally confirmed several principles for dealing with France-Taiwan relations: "Taiwan is part of Chinese territory; France will not change its position, that is, Do not have any official relations with Taiwan or engage in any official contacts; France has no intention of affecting the security situation in the Taiwan Strait when developing trade with the island.” Through arduous consultations, we have reached a "minimum understanding" with France, which puts some restrictions on France's arms sales to Taiwan.The purpose of doing this is, on the one hand, to avoid a comprehensive retrogression of Sino-French relations, while stabilizing Sino-French relations is of great significance to promoting the improvement of relations between my country and Western powers, and it is also an effective way to contain Taiwan's "pragmatic diplomacy"; On the one hand, through consultations, the Chinese side has expressed its steadfast opposition to arms sales to Taiwan, and left room for appropriate responses when necessary. The French government at that time obviously had a wrong estimate of China's principled position and tolerance limit, and did not want to stop, but pushed forward. On January 31, 1992, when French Foreign Minister Dimas met with me at the UN Security Council, he also proposed that France was considering selling advanced "Mirage 2000" fighter jets to Taiwan.It is less than half a year since French Foreign Minister Dumas met with Vice Foreign Minister Tian Zengpei on July 4, 1991, and the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a communiqué on August 27, 1991.The words were still in my ears, but the ink was still wet, and the French government broke their promises again, trying to repeat the old tricks. The "Mirage 2000" fighter is not a general weapon, but an offensive weapon with high combat effectiveness.When France sold warships to Taiwan, it argued that frigates are defensive weapons, and France would not sell offensive fighter jets to Taiwan.Now, they want to sell Taiwan's "Phantom" fighter jets again, and they don't even need the previous excuses. In order to prevent France from selling Mirage fighter jets to Taiwan, China immediately took a series of measures.First, they lodged stern representations with the French side, pointing out the serious nature of this issue, and expressing that China will never tolerate it.At the same time, it has also actively taken measures to respond to the so-called "severe imbalance in France's trade with China" raised by the French side.The Chinese side sent an economic and trade delegation to visit France and made it clear that if the French side gave up selling Taiwan's "Phantom" fighter jets, the Chinese side would send a procurement delegation to visit France to sign a number of cooperation projects and purchase 2 billion US dollars of French products in cash.The delegation also provided the French side with a list of possible cooperation projects with 8 categories and 50 projects with a total amount of 15.4 billion US dollars. In the face of China's representations, the French government remained indifferent, ignoring China's various efforts to stabilize and develop Sino-French relations, and insisted on selling fighter jets to Taiwan. On November 18, 1992, Agence France-Presse quoted news from Taiwan as saying that France and Taiwan had signed a contract on the same day for France to sell 60 "Mirage 2000" fighter jets to Taiwan. Announce the matter. It was not until December 22 that the French side made an official reply to the Chinese ambassador in France: the French government has decided to approve the sale of 60 "Mirage 2000-5" defensive aircraft to Taiwan by French companies. The aircraft is defensive, without air-to-air refueling devices and air-to-ground missiles, and will not pose a threat to China's territorial integrity and security. The French side also argued that the contract was a general commercial practice.France opposes any discrimination in any market.If the US can sell arms to Taiwan, why can't France?France has a huge trade deficit with China.The French aviation industry is in a difficult situation and needs to find a way out. At that time, the French Socialist government was facing a domestic general election, and there was nothing to show for it, so it was dishonest and put all its eggs in one basket, trying to reap immediate benefits. It sold a contract of nearly US$4 billion for 60 "Mirage 2000-5" fighter jets to Taiwan as its "performance" in power. .At that time, there were still many people in the French decision-making circles who even regarded China's practice of considering the overall situation of Sino-French relations in the sale of warships to Taiwan as weak and deceitful, thinking that China would swallow the bitter wine of France's sale of fighter jets to Taiwan. France's wishful thinking was wrong.The Chinese side began to react, and its intensity was completely beyond the expectations of the French side. The Chinese government announced that it will cancel some of the proposed large-scale cooperation projects with France, such as the Guangzhou Metro, the second phase of the Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant, and the purchase of French wheat; it will no longer discuss new major economic and trade cooperation projects with France; it will strictly control the level of deputy ministers of the two countries The exchanges of the above personnel; immediately close the French Consulate General in Guangzhou. The French Socialist government is starting to feel the pain from these diplomatic moves. In March 1993, the French Socialist Party government failed in the general election, and the French traditional right-wing force, the Alliance for the Defense of the Republic, replaced it and formed a new government. When the new government came to power, it sought to improve relations with China. On May 5, the new French Foreign Minister Juppe wrote me a letter.The letter said, "The head of the new French government believes that it is necessary to immediately start thinking about the state of Sino-French relations. Such thinking is based on friendly considerations for a China that naturally expects to unite and build a country, and is based on our full awareness of The important role your country is playing and should continue to play in the world is based on the will to restore relations between our two countries based on mutual respect and trust." Prime Minister Balladur sent a letter to Premier Li Peng on June 1, hoping to send a special envoy to discuss the restoration of relations between the two countries. Of course, for Sino-French relations to return to normal, the French side needs to show enough political sincerity to address China’s concerns, the most important of which is how to deal with the arms sales to Taiwan by the previous government and how the new French government will deal with arms sales to Taiwan in the future Things.If these two problems are resolved, the development of Sino-French relations will have broad prospects. Focusing on improving Sino-French relations, French Prime Minister El Balladur sent his special envoy Friedman to China twice in July and December 1993 for consultations. Friedman was a director of the French insurance company Union, not a government official.He was a classmate and close friend of the current French President Chirac, and had a close personal relationship with the then newly appointed Prime Minister El Balladur.When Balladur was Minister of Finance and Privatization in 1986, Friedman served as Balladur's commissioner.He is low-key and cautious. The Sino-French consultations were conducted in secret. After six months of rounds of consultations, the two countries finally reached an agreement on the restoration of bilateral relations. On December 28, Vice Foreign Minister Jiang Enzhu and Friedman initialed the "Joint Communiqué between the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of the French Republic". The core content of the joint communique is only one sentence, that is, "the French government promises not to approve French companies to participate in arming Taiwan in the future." As for how to deal with the issue of arms sales to Taiwan by the former French government, there was no mention in the communiqué.At this point, the two sides had a tough negotiation.The French side stated that the new French government does not approve of the previous government's arms sales to Taiwan, but France must fulfill the signed contracts. The French side promises that it will never sell war weapons to Taiwan in the future.At the same time, in the process of implementing the promises made by the former government, the most restrictive measures will be taken, such as not selling 15 aircraft to Taiwan for training "Mirage 2000" pilots, etc.As far as China is concerned, striving to make the new French government abolish the Taiwan arms sales contract signed by the former French government is in line with our consistent requirements, but more importantly, we should focus on the future, block the way for France to sell arms to Taiwan, and dispel the attempts of other European countries. Follow France's idea of ​​selling arms to Taiwan. On January 3, 1994, French Foreign Minister Juppe sent me a letter, which further stated clearly: "The French government promises not to approve the sale of war weapons to Taiwan in the future." Attached to the letter is a statement that the French government will strictly prohibit French companies from selling to Taiwan. List of weapons and equipment.The content of the list stipulates the weapons not to be sold to Taiwan, including armored vehicles, artillery, submarines, ships, fighter jets, military helicopters, ground-to-air, and air-to-ground missiles, etc., with detailed explanations. On January 5, I wrote back to Foreign Minister Juppe, confirming the content of the "Joint Communiqué" reached by the two sides. On January 12, China and France issued a joint communiqué between the two governments.Sino-French relations have since returned to normal: personnel above the vice-ministerial level have begun to communicate again; French companies can compete in the Chinese market like other foreign companies; some large-scale cooperation projects affected by the French sale of fighter jets to Taiwan have also been able to continue .China has imposed strict sanctions on the four French companies directly involved in arms sales to Taiwan. From January 22 to 24, 1994, I paid an official visit to France.At first, I had no plan to visit France, but I planned to stop in Paris on my way back from visiting Africa, where I would meet with US Secretary of State Christopher.After receiving the news, the French side reacted quickly and proposed to regard my meeting with French leaders in Paris as an official visit to France. During my stay in Paris, the French President, Prime Minister and Foreign Minister met and held talks with me respectively. President Mitterrand has always regarded himself as a human rights defender and is quite arrogant. He must discuss human rights issues every time he meets. However, this time he was courteous and stood at the door to welcome the guests.During the meeting, he avoided talking about his favorite topic, but talked about his admiration for the astonishing speed of my country's economic development and the ability of our leaders to govern a country with a population of 1.2 billion. When leaving the Elysee Palace, a reporter asked loudly, how did you talk with President Mitterrand on human rights issues?I replied that we did not discuss this issue this time.All the reporters were surprised. On May 22, 1995, the United States suddenly announced that President Clinton decided to allow Lee Teng-hui to visit the United States in the first week of June of that year for a so-called "unofficial and private visit" to attend the graduation ceremony of Cornell University. The announcement came as a shock even though two days earlier, U.S. National Security Adviser Lake and Deputy Secretary of State Tarnov had formally informed Chinese Ambassador to the U.S. Li Daoyu.Only one month ago, the US Secretary of State personally made a promise to me that the US would not allow Lee Teng-hui to visit the US. It was mid-April of this year, and I was in New York for the Review and Extension Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.During the period, at the request of the US side, he held talks with US Secretary of State Christopher at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel on the 17th. When talking about Lee Teng-hui's plan to visit the United States, Christopher made a clear promise that the United States would not allow Lee to visit the United States, and said that Lee's visit to the United States was not in line with the nature of the unofficial relationship between the United States and Taiwan, and the United States would at most consider extending Lee's transit visa. The first time Lee Teng-hui transited through the United States was in Hawaii.At that time, the US stipulated that he could only stay at the airport.Lee Teng-hui was very angry about this, and he wore pajamas and refused to get off the plane. Today, the foreign minister of a superpower has made a promise to the outside world, but it has turned his back on it. This cannot but be shocking and infuriating. On June 7, Christopher wrote to me. In the letter, he stated that both houses of the U.S. Congress passed the bill requiring Lee Teng-hui to visit the U.S. with an absolute majority. to prevent the passage of binding legislation that could make U.S.-Taiwan relations appear official." This is of course just rhetoric.The so-called "resolution" passed by the U.S. Congress is only intentional, and it is the administrative authority's power to grant entry visas.Christopher had two versions in less than a month, which could only be interpreted as American dialect without belief. At that time, Lee Teng-hui was campaigning for the first so-called "directly elected president" in Taiwan. He spared no expense in hiring the American Cassidy public relations firm to lobby members of the U.S. Congress in order to win the United States' political support for him. Supporting the Taiwan authorities and promoting "Taiwan to contain China" have always been the established policies of successive U.S. governments, but they will manifest in different forms and intensities under different historical backgrounds. From the perspective of the international background, after the end of the Cold War, some people in Western academic circles believed that the strategic bond between China and the United States ceased to exist due to the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the Eastern European Bloc.There is even a view that China will replace the Soviet Union and become the opponent of the United States, so it is advocated to carry out strategic containment of China as soon as possible.A researcher named Siegel from the famous International Institute for Strategic Studies in London is famous for concocting the "China Threat Theory".In an article published in early 1995, he clearly put forward the idea of ​​"using Taiwan to contain China", saying that neither human rights issues nor most-favored-nation treatment issues can effectively contain China, but the Taiwan issue "can sting China's nerves the most." Driven by anti-China forces in the world, the US government also wants to test China's bottom line on the Taiwan issue at this time. Of course, Taiwan's money offensive also played a role that cannot be underestimated.According to American newspapers, Taiwan spends millions of dollars on American public relations companies every year. In 1994, Taiwan signed a three-year, US$4.5 million contract with the Cassidy Public Relations Company of the United States to conduct public relations lobbying for Lee Teng-hui's visit to the United States.At the same time, Taiwan spares no expense in inviting US government officials at all levels, members of Congress and their aides to visit Taiwan, and continues to provide huge amounts of funding to influential US think tanks, universities and research institutions in order to influence US public opinion and upper-level decision-making. . In 1994, in the name of Lee Teng-hui, Taiwan donated US$4.5 million to Cornell University in two installments. Taiwan spends a lot of money, which is actually "travel money", the purpose is to make Lee Teng-hui's visit to the United States possible.Lee Teng-hui also believed that money could conjure both gods and ghosts. When he returned from the United States, he openly clamored to spend one billion dollars to enter the United Nations. The United States allowed Lee Teng-hui to visit the United States, which broke the nearly 17-year "ban" that prohibited Taiwan's top leaders from visiting the United States, seriously damaged the political foundation of Sino-US relations; and promoted "two Chinas" and "one China, one Taiwan" for the Taiwan authorities "Policy support has fueled the arrogance of the Taiwan authorities and international anti-China forces. Facing the diplomatic provocations from the United States, the Chinese government had no choice but to take a series of strong countermeasures to dispel the Clinton administration's illusion that China would swallow the bitter fruit of Lee Teng-hui's visit to the United States after a little gesture from the United States, and make the United States truly realize that the seriousness of the problem. On May 23, in my capacity as Vice Premier and Foreign Minister of the State Council, I summoned the US Ambassador to China Rui Xiaojian and lodged a strong protest against the US government's announcement that Lee Teng-hui would be allowed to visit the US. On the same day, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National People's Congress, and the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference issued statements condemning and protesting this wrong move by the United States. On May 26, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that the Chinese government had decided to postpone State Councilor and Defense Minister Chi Haotian's scheduled visit to the United States in June; State Councilor Li Guixian and Air Force Commander Yu Zhenwu also suspended their visits to the United States. On May 28, the Chinese government decided to suspend the Sino-US expert consultation on the Missile Technology Control Regime and nuclear energy cooperation.The visits to China by the Director of the US Arms Control and Disarmament Agency and the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Political and Military Affairs, which were originally scheduled to come to China in June and July of that year, were also requested to be postponed.For a while, high-level visits above the vice-ministerial level and some important bilateral consultations between the two countries came to an abrupt halt. On June 16, Li Daoyu, my country's ambassador to the United States, was ordered to formally notify the U.S. government that because the U.S. allowed Lee Teng-hui to visit the U.S., resulting in bad consequences, he was called back to report on his duties.In this regard, US State Department spokesman Burns expressed regret, saying that the United States did not take reciprocal action against China's decision, and the United States very much hoped that China could send its ambassador back as soon as possible. In July 1995 and March 1996, China conducted two large-scale live-fire missile drills and postponed the second round of the "Wang-Koo Talks." China's above-mentioned measures have greatly shocked the United States and prompted the debate on China policy in the United States to reach a climax.As a result of the debate, the mainstream parties of the two parties in the United States have reached a basic consensus: China's rise and strength are unstoppable. "Isolating" and "containing" China is not the best policy, but maintaining "engagement" with China is in the long-term interests of the United States. On June 7, 1995, the day Lee Teng-hui started his visit to the United States, US Secretary of State Christopher wrote me a letter.In his letter, he stated that Lee Teng-hui's visit to the United States will be a "purely private visit", and no official from the executive branch will meet with Lee Teng-hui.Lee Teng-hui is not allowed to engage in any official activities. I ignored his statement. From June 7th to 11th, Lee Teng-hui went to the United States, stopping in Los Angeles, Syracuse (located in the northwest of New York State, an hour's drive from Cornell University), and Anchorage on his way back and forth. On June 9th, Lee delivered a political speech at Cornell University titled "What the People Want is in My Heart", promoting the so-called "Taiwan Experience" and clamoring to "break through diplomatic isolation" and strengthen Taiwan-US relations. Intense colors. Judging from the actual situation of Lee Teng-hui's activities in the United States, the US government has indeed adopted some corresponding restrictive measures to keep Lee's visit on an "unofficial" tone and reduce its impact.Where Lee Teng-hui stopped, except for local officials and a few congressmen who came forward to welcome him, no US federal government officials had contact with him, nor did the governor meet him.In addition, Li was not allowed to stop in New York; the false "national flag" and the false "national anthem" were not allowed to be hung at the airport and Cornell University; the press conference that Li was scheduled to hold at Cornell University was canceled; Li's wife was not allowed to visit the White House, etc. The US has also made some gestures in Washington.On the day when Lee Teng-hui arrived at Cornell University, on the afternoon of June 8, US President Clinton had an urgent meeting with Chinese Ambassador to the US Li Daoyu at the White House. "Two Chinas" or "One China, One Taiwan" policy.He also said that no matter how the Taiwan side promotes it, Lee Teng-hui's visit is completely unofficial and private, and his visit does not mean that the US government recognizes Taiwan; the US will continue to seek to establish constructive relations with China and maintain the current China policy. When President Clinton met with Ambassador Li, contrary to the usual practice, he specially arranged for reporters to take pictures at the scene to enhance the atmosphere. However, these statements by the US are not enough to eliminate the bad influence caused by Lee Teng-hui's visit to the US, let alone give China a clear answer on how the US government will handle such incidents in the future. Ambassador Li Daoyu told President Clinton on the spot that he could not accept the US explanation. In early August 1995, the 28th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting and the subsequent ASEAN Regional Forum were held in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei.As ASEAN's dialogue countries, both China and the United States will attend the meeting successively. Before going to the meeting, US Secretary of State Christopher actively expressed that he hoped to meet with me there for a bilateral meeting, and said that President Clinton had an important letter to be forwarded to President Jiang Zemin. On July 28, before going to Brunei, Christopher gave a speech at the American Press Club, talking about the situation in Asia. Among them, China was the longest, saying how important China is, the United States will continue to implement the one-China policy, and the Chinese people The government of the Republic is the only legal government of China, and the United States does not support the creation of "two Chinas", Taiwan's entry into the United Nations, and so on. At that time, the high-level exchanges between China and the United States had not yet resumed. However, in order to reflect the diplomatic strategy of "reasonable, beneficial, and restrained" in the struggle against the United States, I agreed to meet with Christopher on the occasion of an international conference. 8月1日下午，在斯里巴加湾市的国际会议中心，我与克里斯托弗进行了大约一个小时的会晤。 克里斯托弗首先转交了克林顿总统致江泽民主席的一封信。信中提到，美国继续奉行一个中国政策，遵守三个联合公报，反对“两个中国”和“一中一台”的主张，反对台湾独立，反对台湾加入联合国，但是没有提及今后将如何处理台湾当局领导人访美的问题。 克里斯托弗在与我会谈中，除了重复辩解和做出一些原则表态外，提出了两点新的内容：一是美国非常希望与中国建立平等的伙伴关系；二是克林顿总统授权他告诉中方，愿意邀请江主席“在不久的将来访问华盛顿”，但未说明访问的具体时间和访问方式。 当时，美国1989年后对我国进行的所谓制裁仍在继续，国家元首的正式互访一直处于停顿状态。克里斯托弗显然是想以这两点为“诱饵”，使我同意他提出的恢复中美间的一系列对话、 磋商和高层往来的建议。 中方最为关注的，是美方今后将如何处理台湾当局领导人访美这一重大问题，对此，克里斯托弗没有做出明确的表态。因此，我对美方的建议没有给予积极回应，只是同意美方派塔诺夫副国务卿来北京与李肇星副外长进一步磋商。 根据两国外长文莱会晤达成的一致，美国负责政治事务的副国务卿塔诺夫于8月24日至27日来华，与李肇星副外长就改善中美关系进行了磋商。 根据克林顿总统的授权，塔诺夫向中方通报了关于美方今后对台湾当局领导人访问将采取的若干限制措施，其内容为：首先这类访问必须是私人的、非官方的，只能是为个人目的，不能具有任何政治目的；其次，这类访问不仅要避免实质性的官方性质，也要避免可能被人认为具有政治象征意义的礼节性和标志性；第三，这类访问将是很少的，只有在特定的情况下才能被允许，并且是“个案处理”。 塔诺夫的通报基本上回应和解决了中方的严重关切。于是，中央决定逐步恢复中美间的高层往来。 是年10月，江泽民主席出席联合国成立50周年大会之后，在纽约与美国总统克林顿进行了正式会晤。 当时，美国本有意邀请江主席到华盛顿进行访问，但又表示难以按“正式国事访问”来安排，提出要以“正式工作访问”来进行。 所谓工作访问和国事访问的区别，主要是前者没有白宫南草坪的欢迎仪式，没有21响礼炮。通常情况下，安排工作访问可以有两种解释，一是双方要讨论某个重要而紧急的议题，时间上来不及安排正式的国事访问，或访问的内容较为单一，时间较短，礼仪也就从简；一是双方的关系似乎还没有发展到鸣礼炮的热烈程度，所需维系的仅是两国间的工作关系。工作访问的形式，可以向外界显示两国关系的局限性。 从当时的情况看，江泽民国家主席如实现访美，将是1985年之后中国国家元首对美国的第一次访问，对恢复和改善中美关系具有重大意义。无论从内容和形式上都应该是正式国事访问。 但是，美国坚持不安排正式国事访问，这不仅仅是一个礼遇问题，而是反映出美国政府在改善和发展对华关系问题上还没有足够的政治意愿。 为了走出这一僵局，我方提议，中美两国元首在纽约会晤。 1995年10月24日，中美两国元首在纽约林肯中心举行会晤，就加强和发展中美关系达成战略共识。这次会晤取得了积极的成果，为日后中美关系的恢复和发展铺平了道路。 会谈时，克林顿总统明确表示，赞成江泽民主席关于应从战略全局和新世纪的高度处理两国关系的观点；在中美两个大国间，孤立不是选择，遏制不是选择，对抗不是选择，惟一正确的选择，是保持建设性接触。 关于台湾问题，克林顿说，美恪守中美三个联合公报，承认只有一个中国，台湾是中国的一部分，中华人民共和国政府是中国惟一合法政府，美方不希望台湾问题成为两国分歧的来源。 克里斯托弗国务卿对处理台湾当局领导人访美问题做了特别阐述，再次承诺，对此类访问采取严格限制措施，“这种访问将是私人的、非官方的，而且是很少的，并将个案处理”。当然，他也留了一个小尾巴，说美方不能完全排除今后会有这种访问的可能性。 针对美方提出希望恢复中美有关导弹不扩散、和平利用核能合作、军控和出口管制等问题的磋商，我也做了补充性发言，提出中美就不扩散问题的磋商，应当包括美售台武器问题，因为这是一种武器扩散，也是中方最关切的问题。 作为江主席的陪同人员，驻美大使李道豫前往纽约，参加了中美首脑会晤后留在美国，也就算是返任了。 此后，中美间的高层互访和政治磋商逐步恢复。我国国防部长、司法部长于1996年访美。至此，围绕李登辉访美问题与美国进行的斗争基本上告一段落。 经过这场斗争，克林顿政府比较清楚地认识到台湾问题的敏感性以及中美关系的重要性。中美关系因此得以在克林顿总统的第二任期内比较平稳地发展，并得到进一步提升。 1997年，江泽民主席对美国进行了国事访问。 1998年，克林顿总统正式访华，并在上海公开阐述了美国对台政策的“三不”主张。 那是6月30日上午，克林顿总统夫妇在上海图书馆与上海市民代表举行圆桌会议时，阐述了对台“三不”政策的内容，即美国不支持台湾独立；不支持“两个中国”、“一中一台”；不支持台湾加入任何必须由主权国家参加的国际组织。 美国总统公开做出上述承诺，这是第一次。