Taiwan asserted its sovereignty Saturday after Donald Trump warned against Taiwanese self-determination following the American leader’s two-day summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing.
Taiwan “is a sovereign and independent democratic nation, and is not subordinate to the People’s Republic of China,” Taiwan’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
The ministry’s remarks come as a swift rebuke against Trump, who said Friday that he was “not looking to have somebody go independent” when asked about whether the U.S. would come to Taiwan’s rescue in the event of an invasion by China.
In the latest episode of Trump leaving his allies out to dry, it looks like Trump is trying to trade Taiwan to China for Somethingᵀᴹ
I genuinely feel terrible for Taiwan that they’re stuck in this horrid position of being constantly threatened by China for merely existing, and essentially having to bet on the global value of TSMC to keep the otherwise apathetic US around.
It shouldn’t have to be that way, and its abhorrent that it is.
I’m thankful that the EU managed to (mostly) step in for Ukraine, but Taiwan is simply too far away for Europe to properly defend - so if the US doesn’t stand up, I doubt anybody will.
Keep in mind taiwan is staunchly conservative.
Taiwan has been backing trump and I’m even suspecting taking part in the voting influence as they really believed he was the only president capable of looking after them and confronting China. They threw all their bets at him out of fear of China.
If you talked to anyone from taiwan in the past several years they couldn’t lick his ass enough. Even if you were to tell them bold faced he’s a racist pedo and they wouldn’t shut up about the US protecting their country and who cares if he raped little girls and send brown people to die so long as they are protected by him.
Take it from someone who’s been talking to conservative relatives in taiwan. It’s been like screaming into the wind. And they even threatened me in 2023 that every country is going conservative and I should just watch out. And they did this with much smirking. They are having their own leapard ate my face moment.
I feel bad for them in the same way I feel bad for MAGAs for voting for him while ignoring all the blatant racism.
Don’t discount SK, Japan, ANZ
Only the best Somethingᵀᴹ
It’s also the latest example that shows that Trump can only remember the conversation from the last person he talked to. If he visited Taiwan, immediately afterwards he would be saying the exact opposite. He’s a fucking moron and has no capacity for self-thought in any way. He just blindly restates what somebody told him.
I think we’re in the “how long for Taiwan to develop a nuke” waiting room right now.
Yep, Xi manipulated rump and now US isn’t going to protect Taiwan anymore. WTF
If I were Taiwan, I’d make sure to have a deadman’s switch on TSMC - so if China every tried to take it, the whole thing would suddenly become very worthless to them.
And I’d make sure everybody in the room could hear that, so the world knows what they’d be losing if China ever went for it.
China doesn’t want TSMC, they want the land.
*What’s going on here with the downvotes? They’ve wanted Taiwan decades before TSMC even existed, let alone rose to any prominence. A whole bunch of retconing going on here.
When the downvotes and upvotes are relatively close to being the same is when you are closest to the truth.
They want TSMC too. Intel isn’t up to taking over for them so having TSMC would mean having significant control over the global economy.
It would be a bonus, but they know Taiwan will rig them to explode, so they won’t get them, so that’s not a goal. It’s not why they want Taiwan.
Or rather the Sea around the land.
If you guys think that China is this big scary place hellbent on world domination that does surveillance and treats its citizens like shit while trying to make themselves look good on a world stage
wait until you hear about this new country called The United States
Aw, good ol’ Soviet whataboutism. We can dislike both.
… And both things cannot be true because why?
China is the bad guy in this instance because they’re the ones threatening the sovereignty of another country.
Nobody says it can’t be the US. I certainly think the US’s actions are deplorable when it comes to both Gaza and Iran. You need only check my comment history.
What if… there is no such thing as good actors.
It’s not manipulation. The US in it’s current strategic state simply cannot guarantee Taiwan’s security. Trump is simply affirming publicly what everybody already knows.
That isn’t true at all. The US has huge contracts with TSMC and with it blocking China from invading. It’s a chip war , Trump is standing down because of billions he getting for his friends.
So you’re saying the US hasn’t depleted their missile stockpiles for their bullshit war in Iran ? Or are you saying that China isn’t ramping up production of their own stockpile ?
So you’re saying Chinese interest in controlling Taiwan is only a thing since they started making GPUs there ? Or are you saying China has no strategic interest in controlling one access to the South China Sea and is only looking to snatch the TSMC fabs ?
I’ll reiterate cause maybe i wrote my first comment poorly : Xi hasn’t manipulated Trump into ditching Taiwan. Trump has already announced some time ago that US security assurances are bullshit and that US allies will be left out to dry. But now it’s even clearer because the US simply doesn’t have the military dominance anymore. They could handle a few weeks of high intensity conflict with China at best before they have to fold and go back home. They got their asses handed to them in Iran imagine the fucking bloodbath if they go to war with a comparable power.
The chip thing is a fig leaf. China has made it so that they don’t really depend on this tech, they train their own models on TPUs and older non-embargoed GPUs. The US is obsessed with TSMC but the Chinese not so much because they know they’ll never get it. The moment they cross the border the fabs will be blown up.
I don’t think anyone in Taiwan expects any of their “allies” to come to their aid in the event of war - certainly not the U.S.
The Chinese, however, know how important semiconductor production in Taiwan (TSMC, etc.) is for their own economy. Someone like that orange moron is also currently demonstrating just how unwise it is to try to enforce one’s interests through brute force. I don’t think the Chinese are unaware of this and will likely stick to their usual posturing.