TAIPEI/BEIJING, Aug. 19 — Public skepticism about the United States is growing in Taiwan, as Washington’s tariff measures and other coercive actions have undercut the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities’ strategy of relying on U.S. support to pursue secession.
On social media, complaints have surged since the United States imposed a 20 percent tariff on goods from Taiwan in early August. “The United States is blackmailing everyone,” one netizen wrote. “It only protects its own interests,” another quipped.
“If the United States runs out of cash, Taiwan becomes its ATM.” Analysts estimated that Taiwan is now confronting its heaviest overall tax burden since the island shifted toward export-oriented industrialization in the early 1960s.
Beyond tariffs, Washington’s pressure on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) to expand investment in the United States has fueled fears that the island’s backbone industry could be hollowed out.
Although Taiwan was restored to China in 1945 after decades of Japanese occupation, the island province has not been reunified with the mainland as a result of the unresolved civil war dating back to the late 1940s.
With the DPP winning the island’s three leadership elections since 2016, it has persistently pursued a secessionist policy and leaned overwhelmingly toward the United States.
Taiwan’s Want Daily noted in an editorial that distrust of the United States has been building. In March, a survey from Taiwan magazine Global Views Monthly found that over 76 percent of respondents said their impression of the United States was negative, and, even among DPP supporters, those with a negative impression outnumbered those with a positive impression.
The results of a poll published by U.S. think tank Brookings Institution show a similar trend — 40.5 percent of respondents from Taiwan described their perception of the United States as “very negative” or “negative,” compared to 24.2 percent in mid-2024.
“U.S. tariffs are hurting farmers, workers and businesses across Taiwan,” renowned social activist Zhan Che said. “We already had skepticism toward the United States, and it may gradually turn into aversion.”
Beyond economic concerns, intellectuals in Taiwan have raised concerns over Washington’s questionable role in global governance.
Kuan Chung, founder of the Taiwan-based Democracy Foundation, wrote in his 2022 book that his youthful admiration for the United States had collapsed.
“The American miracle has become a lie, democracy a joke,” he wrote, adding that the United States is now like “a hegemon living in fear of losing control.”
In March 2023, a group of prominent academics in Taiwan issued a signed declaration, calling for peace and speaking against Taiwan becoming a “follower of U.S. hegemony.”
“To maintain its dominance, the United States has sacrificed the interests of many — Taiwan could be next,” said Lu Chien-yi, a research fellow of Academia Sinica in Taiwan, one of the founders of the group.
Younger scholars also echo this skepticism. Chou Yung, a history scholar born in the 1990s, told Xinhua that the mainstream skepticism about the United States in Taiwan is currently centered on doubts about its reliability as a partner.
“However, over time, people may also begin to question whether the United States is a free and affluent society as it claims. An indicator of this cultural disenchantment may be that for young people in Taiwan, the appeal of the United States is gradually fading,” he said.
A United Daily News editorial has pointed out that public skepticism about the United States in Taiwan is largely a result of Washington’s actions, but the DPP has played no small part in amplifying this sentiment.
From lifting a ban on U.S. pork containing ractopamine to costly arms purchases and a weak response to the TSMC’s outflow, decisions under the island’s secession-minded leaders Tsai Ing-wen and her successor, Lai Ching-te, have fueled doubts over their true priorities.
“Lai, in particular, has gone out of his way to court Washington. Yet public concern is mounting over whether he can genuinely protect Taiwan’s interests,” the article reads.
Observers say the DPP has been presented with an opportunity to reassess its secessionist stance and reflect on its push for a “decoupling” with the mainland’s economy.
In the mainland’s view, Taiwan residents are compatriots, bound by a shared identity across the Strait. As mainland officials have repeatedly said, so long as the island’s authorities do not pursue “Taiwan independence,” Chinese will not fight Chinese.
In a recent article circulating on social media, Zheng Zhenqing, vice director of the Institute for Taiwan Studies at Tsinghua University in Beijing, said only by standing with the mainland can Taiwan effectively counter the bullying of international powers and safeguard dignity and the interests of its people.
“Taiwan’s intellectuals and younger generations should renew their thinking, broaden their horizons, and move away from the old path of becoming a U.S. dependency.
They should dare to envision a new future of peaceful reunification and sound governance across the Strait,” Zheng said. (Xinhua)
