Compliance with US demands will turn Taiwan from 'pawn' to 'discarded piece': spokesperson on poll showing Taiwan trust in US tumbles
If [the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities] allow the US to take whatever it wants, once Taiwan's value is exhausted, the inevitable outcome will be a shift from "pawn" to "discarded piece," Zhu Fenglian, a spokesperson for State Council Taiwan Affairs Office said on Wednesday.
Zhu's remarks were made in response to media inquiries over a recent Brookings Institution poll, which showed a sharp decline in Taiwan public trust and confidence in the US.
The Brookings Institution poll, conducted from February to April, found that the share of respondents in Taiwan who viewed the US positively or very positively decreased by 20.8 percent compared with last year.
When asked whether the US was a "trustworthy" or "very trustworthy" ally, just 23.1 percent of respondents in Taiwan answered that it is. This is down from 33.6 percent last year. Only 37.5 percent of respondents in Taiwan believed in March 2025 that it is "likely" or "very likely" that the US would intervene in a military conflict, down from 44.5 percent in July 2024.
"We need to ask ourselves: why are more and more Taiwan people losing trust in the US?" Zhu said, "The primary reason is that the Taiwan people have seen clearly that the US always prioritizes 'America First,' with Americans solely concerned about 'American interests.'"
In the eyes of the US, Taiwan's true value lies in being a "cash cow," an "ATM," and a tool for containing the Chinese mainland, Zhu added.
According to the spokesperson, the US has been pressuring the Taiwan region to do four things.
"First, forcing Taiwan's core competitive industries, represented by TSMC, to transfer to the US through investments or joint ventures; second, demanding that the DPP authorities increase defense budgets, using more of the Taiwan people's hard-earned money to buy US weapons; third, attempting to militarize Taiwan island, clamoring to turn it into a 'war porcupine,' promoting 'urban warfare' for all, pushing Taiwan's youth to the battlefield, and turning local temples into ammunition depots; fourth, imposing high tariffs on Taiwan, severely impacting related industries."
Is the US truly "protecting Taiwan" or "harming Taiwan"? Are the DPP authorities "safeguarding Taiwan" or "destroying Taiwan"? The facts are clear, and the people of Taiwan are seeing them more clearly than ever, Zhu said.