Taiwan people are waking up to US, mainland official says

More people from Taiwan are losing faith in the United States, because they have seen that the US always prioritizes "America First" and only cares about "American interests", a Chinese mainland spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

Zhu Fenglian, a spokesperson for State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, made the remarks when commenting on a recent Brookings Institution poll, which showed a sharp decline in Taiwan public trust in the US.

The poll, conducted from February to April, found that 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.

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. The proportion of respondents who viewed the United States either very positively or positively decreased by 20.8 percent in Taiwan, according to the poll.

Zhu said, "In the eyes of the US, Taiwan's true value lies in being a 'cash cow', an 'ATM', and a tool to contain the mainland."

The US has been pressuring Taiwan to do four things: first, forcing Taiwan's core industries, represented by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, to transfer investments or form joint ventures with the US; second, demanding that the Democratic Progressive Party increase "defense" spending to purchase US weapons, she said.

Third, the US has been attempting to militarize Taiwan, proclaiming to turn Taiwan into a "warrior hedgehog", pushing Taiwan youth into the battlefield, and turning temples on the island into ammunition depots; and fourth, imposing high tariffs on Taiwan, severely impacting related industries, according to Zhu.

If the DPP authorities allow the US to take whatever it wants, once Taiwan's value is exhausted, its outcome will be a shift from "pawn" to "discarded piece", she said.