In a parting shot before he left Tokyo on Friday, Chinese communist president Jiang Zemin said his country was willing to use force to stop Taiwan’s independence. The Japan Times reported that he had met the chairman of the Japanese communist party, Tetsuzo Fuwa, and had told him that the island of Taiwan was not in the same league as Hong Kong, where negotiation was the key. Taiwan now finds itself increasingly isolated on the world stage, although the Japanese government refused to abandon the island altogether in high level talks last week. It has good trade links with the island. Earlier this year on a visit to Red China, US president Bill Clinton more or less abandoned his country’s ties with Taiwan R.O.C. Trade considerations are believed to be uppermost in Clinton’s mind. Meanwhile, the Taiwanese government asked for US help to deploy Patriot missiles on its west coast and also wants to buy some advanced US warships, local newspapers reported. ®