Taiwan is expendable in Washington's game

The Taipei 101 skyscraper commands the urban landscape in Taipei, China's Taiwan. [Photo/Xinhua]

This is an editorial from China Daily.

The Wall Street Journal published an article last week with the headline Taiwan's Impossible Choice: Be Ukraine or Hong Kong. As that title indicates, its argument hinges on the false proposition that the Taiwan question, the Ukraine crisis and the 2019-20 riots in Hong Kong are all comparable to one another.

The only thing that the three have in common is that for the United States, all three are regarded as useful pieces in its efforts to uphold its hegemony.

While the WSJ trumpeted that the US was acting as a defender of "democracy" and "freedom" in the three places, nothing could be further from the mark. It is the US that has had an interfering hand on the helm of all the three, steering them into turbulence.

It must be pointed out that it is not Taiwan, but the secessionists on the island, that face a choice. They can stand on the right side of history and work with Beijing for the peaceful reunification of the island with the motherland, or do Washington's bidding and sacrifice the island on the altar of the US' hegemony, pursuing their self-imagined cause to a bloody and futile end.

Some interviews with local Taiwan residents in the report have clearly served to show that the Taiwan people are taking the initiative to draw a clear distinction between themselves and the separatists, as they have seen through the hypocrisy of the so-called relations between Washington and Taipei.

These Taiwan compatriots are well aware of the fact that Beijing wants to see the Taiwan question resolved peacefully. Despite the independence-seeking Democratic Progressive Party on the island and Washington depicting it otherwise, for Beijing the use of force is the last resort if push comes to shove.

Although the Tsai Ing-wen administration of the island is colluding with Washington in a bid to present itself as the "victim" and Beijing as the "intimidator", nothing could be further from the truth.

It is Beijing that cares most about the interests of the Taiwan residents rather than the island's administration or Washington. While Beijing plans for the future development of Taiwan and promotes the well-being of the island's residents, Washington is making its "plan for the destruction of Taiwan".

"America is not going to spill the blood of her sons and daughters over Taiwan if the Taiwanese are not willing to wholeheartedly prosecute the defense of their island and their people," as a retired US Air Force lieutenant general told the WSJ in the report.

In that respect, compatriots on the island only have to look at Ukraine to see what it means to be a piece in the US game.