It seems that Mayor Bloomberg is dealing in quite a bit of foreign policy these days. Yesterday, he met with Communist China’s premier, Wen Jia bao, at the Waldorf Towers. In January, the mayor will be jetting off to Haiti to celebrate that nation’s 200th anniversary. While part of the motivation for these events and trips is to show voters that he cares about the city’s various ethnic constituencies, it is worth examining, in all of this, the extent to which Mr. Bloomberg is upholding the standards of what might be called the foreign policy of New York City. Mayor Giuliani conducted this policy famously during his two terms, refusing to treat with dictators and insisting on acknowledging the leaders of free, democratic movements.

So far, Mr. Bloomberg’s greatest accomplishment has been a remark he made last spring in which he referred to Taiwan as a separate nation from China — in contravention of America’s acknowledgement of Beijing’s “one-China” policy. Mr. Bloomberg said of China and Taiwan that he “certainly would welcome visitors from either country,” right after a meeting with the vice president of Red China, Hu Jintao. That, however, was one step back from the Great Giuliani, who refused twice to meet with top officials of the world’s largest totalitarian dictatorship. Jiang Zemin was here in 1997, and Zhu Rongji in 1999. Mr. Giuliani then took pains in 2001 to meet with President Chen of Taiwan when he passed through the city. The venue: the presidential suite of the Waldorf.

Mr. Giuliani won his foreign policy wings in 1995 by sending the police essentially to hoist Yasser Arafat by his armpits and hustle him out of Lincoln Center at the 50th anniversary celebration for the United Nations, where the terrorist chief was trying to mix with polite society. The mayor came in for some criticism at the time, but we’d dare say most New Yorkers thought it sent an important signal. Just as they did when Mr. Giuliani ripped up the $10 million check from the Saudi prince who wanted to contribute to the fund for victims of the attacks on the World Trade Center while suggesting that American support for Israel was to blame.

So far, Mr. Bloomberg has been willing to meet with Taiwanese dignitaries and has pointedly excluded PLO officials in New York from a reception at Gracie Mansion. He could certainly step things up. His trip to Haiti will be the perfect opportunity. The editor of the Haiti-Observateur, Raymond Joseph, who is also a New York Sun columnist, raised, in yesterday’s Sun, concerns about the mayor’s visit. “If he’s going to the show on Haiti’s 200th anniversary, he is being party to a repressive regime,” Mr. Joseph said. However, he said, “If the mayor is going to go to Haiti to tell the government that what is happening there now is unacceptable to civilized society, it’s good for him to go.”

In particular, Mr. Joseph would like to see Mr. Bloomberg bring up an incident last week where thugs of the Haitian dictator, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, beat up 30 students during a demonstration at the National University of Haiti. The thugs broke both of the university’s rector’s legs. The rector, Pierre Marre Paquiot, gave radio interviews from his hospital bed that were broadcast in New York, according to Mr. Joseph.”I suppose the mayor is trying to corral the Haitian vote in New York,” Mr. Joseph said.”If he does not denounce that, he is being party to a criminal enterprise.” We have no doubt that Mr. Bloomberg understands the responsibility he bears as a representative of millions of New Yorkers who cherish freedom and detest dictatorship. The question is whether he will do his duty.