U.S. President George W. Bush is performing a high-wire act with China. Even though tensions with Beijing were already running high, the president has approved two visits that will only further irritate the Chinese government. The United States is free to host whomever it wants, and no U.S. government should put China's interests before its own. Yet recent actions suggest that the U.S. is pointedly ignoring Chinese concerns. That is no way to conduct foreign policy.
Provoking Beijing's ire this week are the two-night stopover in New York City by Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian and the meeting between Mr. Bush and the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet. Both men are considered "splittists" for their advocacy of independence for their homelands.
The Dalai Lama's visit to Washington comes on the 50th anniversary of the Chinese invasion -- or, in Beijing's words, "peaceful liberation" -- of Tibet. In the half-century since, China has attempted to bring Tibet completely under its influence, destroying indigenous culture and repopulating the area with Han Chinese. The effort has been routinely denounced by human-rights organizations. For all the trouble, however, attempts to win the loyalty of a majority of Tibetans have failed.