Dear Mr. Kofi A. Annan,
　　 Mr. Prime Minister Tony Blair,

Foreign Minister Jason Hu showed that Taipei remained on guard against any warming between China and Japan, declining to assess Chinese President Jiang Zemin's historic Japan visit while further developments were still possible on Thursday (Nov. 26, 1998) discord over how Japan would apologize to China for World War II scuttled plans for Jiang and Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi to sign a joint declaration. Tokyo also said it saw no need to change its policy towards Taiwan rebuffing Chinese pressure for new concessions.

Taipei seized on the discord to attack China's strategy of pressuring the United States, Japan and other powers to support its diplomatic embargo against Taiwan, asserting that Beijing was using "big-power diplomacy" to get its way in Asia.

"The Chinese communists evidently feel their international image has improved since the visit by U.S. President Clinton." Hu said, referring to Clinton's June summit in Beijing.

"They are wooing influential countries with the aim of establishing superpower status and becoming the region's next overlord." Hu said, adding that Taipei was forming a task force to study Beijing's big-power diplomacy.

Hu said the government would not be bound by "any agreements of declarations" between Beijing and Tokyo. Taipei political analyst Tim Ting said China's unrelenting squeeze was wearing down support for Taiwan, with more and more major powers gradually accepting the view that the island must bow to Beijing's government's sovereignty. "This will give Taiwanese diplomatic policy a very difficult environment in which to continue to struggle against Chinese pressure." Ting said.

Taiwan need your support.