Dear Mr. Vice President Richard B. Cheney,

It was truly ironic that the US lost its seat in the UN High Commission for Human Rights, while nations with poor human rights records such as Libya and Sudan were elected members.

There are certainly many reasons for the voting of the US out of the international body, but there is one in particular that we must keep in mind. China has long propagated false reasoning on human rights issues and befriended other countries with poor rights records to form an "Anti-US front." Even some Western countries have been seduced. The crisis has been exposed in recent years by the fact that proposals to condemn China's human rights violations have failed to pass in the UN High Commission for Human Rights, but the US was not sufficiently alert to the problem.

Now UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has almost become China's spokesperson. Action suppressing Taiwan, Tibet and the Falun Gong sects can be undertaken through the Secretariat. China used to view Juan Antonio Samaranch, president of the International Olympic Committee, as an enemy. But now he has turned out to be China's intimate comrade-in-arms.

After all, the Beijing government controls all of China's resources, and its use of those resources is not monitored by anyone. This is why China has gained so many friends.

Despite shelving Mao Zedong's slogan of a "world revolution," China did not forget its ambition to change the world. It tried more actively to realize the ambition, especially after the Tiananmen Square massacre on June 4, 1989.

While China has muttered sweet words to the US, Jiang has kept fanning the Chinese people's hatred toward the international powers led by the US. But former US president Bill Clinton failed to see the situation for what it was. His advisers -- maybe they were naive or simply motivated by profit -- regarded China as a strategic partner. As a result, the US has had to pay a price in security.

This time, the vote in the UN High Commission for Human Rights has been a wake-up call for the US government. Despite the bad outcome, it may turn out to be a good thing in the long term. It may generate a sense of crisis in the US, causing it to revise its polices. It is to be hoped that the US will never again confuse friends with foes.

May 15, 2001 ---  
In an interview with Time magazine this week, President Chen Sui-bian reiterated Taiwan's opposition to the "one country, two systems" model and urged Beijing to recognize Taiwan's need for democracy and religious freedom.

Chen, who is featured on this week's Asian edition of Time, is shown cuddling a large-sized A-Bian doll next to a headline which blares "No Joke."

In the interview Time asks Chen what he would say to China's president Jiang Zemin if he visited Taiwan. Chen's answer was simple and direct.

"We would want Jiang to understand that Taiwan is a true democracy and that our legislature, media and society are democratic and diverse," Chen said. "We hope Jiang would understand that the 'one country, two systems' policy they advocate has no market in Taiwan."

In addition to touching on democracy and the "one country two systems" -- Chen also talked about religious freedom, an idea China is still struggling to understand.

"We would make Jiang understand that Taiwan practices true religious freedom. While in China the Falun Gong movement has become a problem, in Taiwan it poses no problem whatsoever."

When asked if he thought his upcoming stayovers in the US were unnecessarily provocative, Chen told the magazine that the "US is a sovereign and independent country … Why should they have to consult with anyone else?"

In Taiwan side, that soft and softer again and again would may soften Beijing's anger.

Despite three days later President Bush said "my administration strongly support the 'one China' policy …"

President Bush said, "the United States is prepared to do whatever it takes to defend Taiwan, if it is attacked by China." This is a very strong statement that upholds the spirit of the Taiwan relations Act.

We thought that statement makes Beijing chill out.

The "one China" issue, and how each country deals with it is very complex. The first part of the issue is the rhetoric: the Chinese believe they will be saying their misguided friends in Taiwan from nationalism and capitalism. Taiwanese believe they will eventually save the Chinese from communism. Americans believe the western brand of capitalism is the best form of freedom for everybody, but in general we Americans have a very low understanding of the incredible persistence
and low mutability of the Chinese mind.

So, Taiwan always needs your help.

                                                                 Yours Sincerely,