A screenshot of a recent Taiwan media discussion on a social media post of the US president's purported claim of Washington's "plan for the destruction of Taiwan".  (PHOTO / CHINA DAILY)

A recent controversy sparked by a purported “US plan for the destruction of Taiwan” has sparked growing distrust of and dissatisfaction in the United States by the island’s residents for using the island as a pawn to contain the Chinese mainland. 

The remarks came in a social media bombshell dropped in Washington by Garland Nixon, a renowned American radio program host, who quoted a White House insider as saying that Biden had revealed the US plan to destroy Taiwan. 

The incident also shows that Taiwan residents’ distrust of the US is growing and they are not willing to be used by US politicians

The post, on Feb 16, read that “when asked ‘if there could be any greater disaster than the neocon Ukraine project, President Biden responded, “wait until you see our plan for the destruction of Taiwan”.

The bombshell went viral on Taiwan’s social media platforms, trigging a public outcry and wrath against US politicians. Many media programs held debates on US’ intentions to exploit and sacrifice Taiwan for its hegemonic purposes, including plotting to undermine Taiwan’s chipmaking sector.

According to a media report by Hong Kong-based Ta Kung Pao, Zhang Wensheng, deputy dean of the Graduate Institute for Taiwan Studies at Xiamen University, said that although the post’s content has not been verified, it has always been evident that the US has used Taiwan as a pawn to contain China and never cared about the safety or interests of Taiwan residents.

The incident also shows that Taiwan residents’ distrust of the US is growing and they are not willing to be used by US politicians, Zhang added.

The island’s authorities rushed to defend the US stance, but analysts from the island brushed aside their simple denial with examples of US moves against Taiwan interests in the name of “shared value”. 

A representative of a Taiwan youth council said US politicians and high-ranking military personnel have been pushing to liken Taiwan to Ukraine, when they are vastly different. American politicians and military personnel hype up tension across the Taiwan Strait in order to peddle more weaponry to Taiwan and turn the island into an arms storage facility for the US, the representative said.

A Feb 24 report by Bloomberg website headlined: “US to bolster its small force on Taiwan” said that US troop numbers in Taiwan “would grow to between 100 and 200.”

If the Bloomberg report is true, the US is blatantly breaking its promise to and infringing the sovereignty of China as Washington officially acknowledges that the People’s Republic of China is the sole representative of China and Taiwan is part of China, analysts said. The US is also violating international law and contravening the principles of the Charter of the United Nations, its founding document.