The author, Chen Shiliang, is a special researcher at the Research Center for Cross-Strait Relations and secretary-general of the Institute of Taiwan Studies at East China Normal University
For a long time, the United States has always said one thing and done another to the DPP authorities. On the surface, it is said that it is for the good of Taiwan and thinks about Taiwan everywhere, but in fact, it has ulterior motives. Especially in recent years, in order to curb the development of China (mainland), the US Government has further regarded Taiwan as a "pawn", stepped up the implementation of the strategy of "using Taiwan to contain China", provoked cross-strait confrontation, attempted to curb the development of China (mainland) by consuming Taiwan, and tried to prevent China's complete reunification. However, although the DPP authorities have always clinged to the thigh of the United States since they came to power in May 2016, constantly acting as a "pawn" for the United States to contain China (the mainland), trying to incite the people on the island to "pro-US and resist China and defend Taiwan", and even "relying on the United States to seek independence" even at the expense of the interests of the broad masses of the Taiwan people, the DPP authorities still cannot escape the end of being abandoned by the United States.
Biden's "plan to destroy Taiwan" shocked the DPP authorities. In early March this year, Cai Zhengyuan, a former public opinion representative of the Chinese Kuomintang, quoted Garan Nixon, a famous host of Radio Washington in the United States, as saying that an inside source in the White House revealed that when Biden was asked what was more disastrous than the "neoconservative Ukraine plan", he actually replied: "You will know when you see our plan to 'destroy Taiwan'." This news immediately caused an uproar on the island and shocked the DPP authorities. However, the foreign affairs department of the DPP authorities not only did not dare to protest against the United States, but also pointed its guns inward, claiming that this move was deliberately amplified by people with intentions to amplify the "theory of doubting the United States" and undermine the so-called "Taiwan-US relations." However, this kind of news that made Taiwan's public opinion frying pan completely punctured the so-called "best in the history of Taiwan-US relations" repeatedly packaged by Tsai Ing-wen and the public opinion tools under her control.
As early as the end of 2021, the US Army War College mentioned in an article that Taiwan should adopt a "scorched earth strategy" when facing the People's Liberation Army (WUNG) and blow up TSMC if necessary. He even bluntly said, "Valuable assets must not fall into the hands of the enemy, so as not to encourage the opponent's forces." At that time, the media on the island said that this reflected the cold-blooded ruthlessness of the United States in treating the Taiwan people as pawns and cannon fodder. In fact, the suspicion of the Taiwan people about the "abandonment of Taiwan" by the United States has existed since the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, and in last year's Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the people on the island have developed "doubts about the United States", and more and more Taiwanese people know that the United States will only provide weapons and will not work for the Taiwan people. Only the DPP authorities are obedient to the United States and are accomplices of the US "plan to destroy Taiwan."
As for the US plan to "destroy Taiwan," although the DPP authorities and the Taipei office of the American Institute in Taiwan vigorously deny it. However, in online polls, 85% of the interviewed people believe that the United States must have a "plan to destroy Taiwan" and has long been implemented. If a war really breaks out between the two sides of the strait, only 10% of the people on the island believe that the United States will send troops to fight in Taiwan. Obviously, the "theory of doubting the United States" has become the mainstream consensus of Taiwan society. When Biden said the "plan to destroy Taiwan", Tsai Zhengyuan said that the US Department of Defense is funding think tanks to study "the situation of the United States after the fall of Taiwan." Cai Zhengyuan believes that from blowing up TSMC to destroying Taiwan and then to the fall of Taiwan, this is a trilogy of the US "Taiwan destruction plan".
The US "evacuation plan" has aroused concern on the island. Recently, some media on the island quoted the US media "Courier" as reporting that three sources said that the US government is formulating evacuation plans for US citizens living in Taiwan. One of the unnamed U.S. intelligence officials said the plan had been in place for at least six months and had become more urgent in the past two months. Another person familiar with the matter said that the Russian-Ukrainian conflict that broke out in February 2022 was the driving factor in the development of the plan, and the events in Ukraine prompted the United States to revisit the plan. The people and public opinion on the island are very concerned about this.
In fact, the United States is not the only country that has begun to prepare plans for the evacuation of overseas Chinese. In January this year, the Philippine government confirmed that when Pelosi's escape caused the situation in the Taiwan Strait to heat up in August last year, the Philippines had prepared an emergency plan for "evacuating 150,000 Filipino citizens in Taiwan." In April, the Indonesian government reported by local media that it had formulated a "plan to evacuate overseas Chinese" for 350,000 Indonesian citizens working in Taiwan. At the "Taiwan-Japan Strategic Dialogue" in May, the issue of how to evacuate overseas Chinese was also put on the agenda. It can be seen that this is following the successive rumors of "plans to evacuate overseas Chinese" in the Philippines, Indonesia, Japan, and other countries, and the US government has also reported that it is formulating a "plan for evacuating overseas Chinese" for US citizens living in Taiwan. However, Wu Zhaoxie, head of the foreign affairs department of the DPP authorities, claimed that "no country has practiced evacuating overseas Chinese."
Of course, some public opinion believes that the news of the "overseas Chinese evacuation plan" broke out by the United States at this time, on the one hand, in order to continue to create a tense situation in the Taiwan Strait, thereby luring China's (mainland and Taiwan region) capital back to the United States. The United States is using the "Russian-Ukrainian conflict" to induce European capital to flow to the United States, and also take the opportunity to make war riches. This is a repeat of the old trick. On the other hand, the US government's exaggeration of the tense situation in the Taiwan Strait is equivalent to taking the opportunity to force TSMC again on the basis of the original coaxing and coercion and inducement, so that TSMC can seize the time and speed up the pace to continue to move to the United States.
From "pawn" to "abandonment" is the only way for the DPP authorities. In recent years, the United States has used a large number of arms sales to arm the DPP authorities to turn Taiwan into a "hedgehog" and "porcupine," increasing the tension in the Taiwan Strait, and even while continuing arms sales, it has been pressuring the DPP authorities to "show their determination to defend themselves." To this end, the DPP authorities not only instituted a training program for reserve soldiers to return to the camp to strengthen the so-called "reserve combat strength", but also extended the compulsory service period to one year and required 16-year-old boys and girls to be included in the defense mobilization system. Recently, the US Government has offered to assist the DPP authorities in the joint production of weapons, which has further deteriorated cross-strait relations.
It must be pointed out that the root cause of the continued tension in the Taiwan Strait lies in the DPP authorities' collusion with external forces to seek "independence" provocations and their insistence on standing on the opposite side of the fundamental interests of the Chinese nation. Some US politicians pay lip service to supporting Taiwan and hope for peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, but in fact they continue to arch the fire and add oil. Once a war breaks out in the Taiwan Strait over "Taiwan independence," Taiwan will become a battlefield, and the Taiwan people will only be coerced into "cannon fodder." It can be seen that whether the United States is "upholding Taiwan" or "harming Taiwan" and whether the DPP authorities are "defending Taiwan" or "scourging Taiwan" I believe that the broad masses of Taiwan compatriots will have a sober understanding and rational judgment. As the "theory of doubting the United States" continues to rise on the island and a "consensus on suspicion of the United States" has been formed in Taiwan, the broad masses of the Taiwan people will certainly clearly understand the essence of the United States' "harm to Taiwan" and "destruction of Taiwan."
In order to serve its strategy of "using Taiwan to contain China," the United States has on the one hand formulated a "plan to destroy Taiwan," and on the other hand, it has continued to sell weapons to Taiwan, turning Taiwan into a "minelanded island" and "ammunition depot," and even formulated a "plan for evacuating overseas Chinese," so that people can see more and more clearly that Taiwan is just a pawn of the United States in "using Taiwan to contain China" and will also become an "abandoned son" at any time.