Photo taken on Jan 12, 2019 shows the White House and a stop sign in Washington D.C., the United States. Photo:Xinhua

Along with reports of enhanced interactions between the US and the island of Taiwan, the US was also reported to have been considering plans to destroy the island in the event of a military conflict between the island and the Chinese mainland. Related reports have seriously damaged the belief that the US can "defend the island," and demonstrated that the US is just using it as a pawn.

US radio talk show host Garland Nixon last week wrote on Twitter that White House insiders said that US President Joe Biden had warned about the "destruction of Taiwan," when asked if there could be any greater disaster than the Ukraine crisis.

When asked for comments on the so-called "destruction of Taiwan" plan at a press conference on Friday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said, "I also want to know what the 'destruction of Taiwan' plan is. The US should give a definitive explanation."

He noted that Taiwan is China's Taiwan and China will firmly safeguard its national sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Similar plans have been revealed before. In late 2022, Taiwan authorities said that they had rejected a proposal to destroy its flagship semiconductor industry in the event of a military conflict with the mainland.

The "destruction of Taiwan" must be one of the US' options, and it could even be one of the options that preparations are being made for, Zheng Jian, director of the Graduate Institute for Taiwan Studies of Xiamen University, told the Global Times.

For the US, the best strategy is to deter the Chinese mainland without using a single soldier. The middle and worst policy is to destroy Taiwan, or the essence of Taiwan, such as taking away TSMC and the talents on the island, Zheng explained.

Amid reports of the US' plans for destroying and abandoning the island, Washington has also recently ramped up military support for Taiwan.

It has been reported that Taiwan authorities plan to boost military exchanges with the US, after the island's regional leader Tsai Ing-wen met with some US lawmakers recently. The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that the US plans to deploy between 100 and 200 troops to Taiwan island in the coming months, up from roughly 30 there a year ago.

Zheng noted that the US' decision to release the news just before the first anniversary of the Russia-Ukraine conflict reveals its real intention, which is to closely bind the Taiwan question and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

However, the Taiwan question is fundamentally different from the Ukraine issue, as China has reiterated on many occasions. The most fundamental difference is that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory and the Taiwan question is completely China's internal affair, one which brooks no external interference.

Illustration:Liu Rui/GT

The US has made the Taiwan question, which is entirely China's internal affair, a strategic point for its competition with China. However, it has no confidence in defeating China and is making multiple plans to impede China's reunification, Zhu Songling, a professor at the Institute of Taiwan Studies of Beijing Union University, told the Global Times.

This revelation of so-called "destruction of Taiwan" plan has sparked heated discussions on the island, with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) on Wednesday labeling related reports as "false."

The plan and previous US media reports on "blowing up the TSMC" have frustrated Taiwan secessionists and some pro-US politicians, said Zhu.

What the US has done to other countries and regions, especially those it called "allies" in the past decades, clearly shows how fragile US promises and commitments are. The US' continuous fanning of flames in the Russia-Ukraine conflict has also turned away more people on the island of Taiwan, analysts said.