Regarding the story "Japan considers halting, cutting fees to UNESCO" in the Oct. 14 edition, it would be a big tactical error to cut UNESCO payments, to say the least.
Doing so would play into the hands of those who want to defame Japan, giving them additional ammunition to criticize Japan for using a legal obligation for political purposes.
Japan has conscientiously been paying all dues plus additional donations to U.N. organizations. Using this tactic would cancel out all of the good reputation it has gained and hurt the Japanese case for getting a permanent seat on the Security Council.
One better response would be to expose Chinese behavior in the fields of human rights, freedom of expression, oppression of minorities and serious corruption.
China conducts its diplomacy skillfully. Remember when it arrested Japanese "spies" and stopped exporting rare earths, it did not say it did so because Japan nationalized the Senkaku Islands.
CHIYODA WARD, TOKYO
The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.