By JIM MANN, Times Staff Writer

WASHINGTON, Friday, October 31, 1997 (Los Angeles Times) -- Chinese President Jiang Zemin paid a visit Thursday to the long-hostile environment of Capitol Hill and emerged with an extraordinarily strong expression of support from House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

After a contentious breakfast session between members of Congress and Jiang, Gingrich said China is moving in the direction of democracy and should not be viewed in the same way the United States once saw the Soviet Union.

The Georgia Republican tried to dampen criticism voiced by other House members about China's political and religious repression.

China "is not the kind of problem we faced with the Soviet Union," Gingrich told reporters.

When Jiang talked about the political situation in China, Gingrich said, "there was no defense of dictatorship" of the sort that the Soviets used to make.

Some of the other members of Congress who met the Chinese president were considerably less positive.

Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach) said in an interview that Jiang "told some whoppers" when he answered questions about human rights and arms sales. Gingrich's stance is particularly significant because he presides over the House, whose members over the last eight years have been the driving force behind legislative measures aimed at China.

The Senate has been consistently less willing to support such legislation, including failed efforts to restrict China's trade benefits.

For the last two years, Gingrich has tried to maintain a careful balance between Republican conservatives who seek a more confrontational U.S. stance against China and business-oriented Republicans who favor a policy of engagement.

He has also talked several times to former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger, who has argued that China is too important to alienate.

The House speaker, who visited China last spring, said he plans to return next summer-to visit Tibet.

"I hope he [Jiang] and the Dalai Lama will be there to meet me," he said.

It was difficult to tell whether Gingrich intended these last words to be taken seriously. The Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader, has not set foot in Tibet since he fled into exile in 1959, and Beijing has been unwilling to allow even his picture to be displayed there.