Chen Binhua, spokesperson for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office

In response to a recent joint announcement by US President Donald Trump and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) CEO C.C. Wei that TSMC will invest at least another $100 billion in the US, sparking concerns on the island that TSMC is turning into "USMC," while DPP authorities claimed that the move benefits the industry and dismissed such concerns as unnecessary, Chen Binhua, a spokesperson of the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, said at a press conference on Wednesday that the DPP's rhetoric is no other than swallowing insults while the lies unravel. The so-called move being "beneficial to the industry" actually means beneficial to the US industry. 

In an attempt to "rely on the US to seek independence," the DPP authorities are shamelessly "selling out Taiwan" with no limits. The US is tightening its grip, hollowing out TSMC and draining Taiwan island, while the DPP authorities allow themselves to be at the mercy of others. Have they ever considered the well-being of the people in Taiwan and the interests of the industry, Chen asked.

Taiwan residents' concerns about TSMC becoming "USMC" are far from "groundless worries." Taiwan's transformation from a "pawn" to a "discarded piece" is inevitable, the spokesperson said. 

When responding to a separate question regarding the recent claims by Raymond Greene, director of the American Institute in Taiwan, that  what the US does in Taiwan is to "make Taiwan stronger, safer, and more prosperous" and the two sides can build a "non-Chinese supply chain" in areas such as drones and robotics, Chen slammed the US for talking about "supporting Taiwan," while its actions only "harm and destroy the island."  

Chen said pressuring TSMC to invest up to $100 billion in the US to build the world's largest chip industry raises the question of whether this strengthens Taiwan or merely serves US interests. As TSMC increasingly becomes "USMC," the spokesperson questioned how much of Taiwan's industrial edge and economic vitality would be left. 

The DPP authorities, out of a mentality of currying favor with the US, blindly meet the demands put forward by the US. This is extremely detrimental to the development of TSMC and is actually a move to hollow out TSMC, Zhang Wensheng, deputy dean of the Taiwan Research Institute at Xiamen University, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

"The concerns of the people on the island are reasonable. TSMC's huge investment in the US may uproot Taiwan's pillar industries in the economy. Not only TSMC itself, but its entire industrial chain, including technology, capital and technical personnel, may be transferred to the US. This will have a huge impact on the future economic development of the island," Zhang said.

Chen also said at the press conference that the DPP authorities' push to decouple Taiwan's trade and industrial ties with the Chinese mainland contradicts economic logic and undermines the interests of people on both sides. "Such attempts are doomed to fail," he said.

Chen pointed to the strong momentum of cross-Straits trade, noting that total trade between the two sides reached $292.97 billion in 2024, a 9.4 percent year-on-year increase. He said that in the first two months of 2025 alone, trade totaled $43.18 billion, an 8.8 percent rise, demonstrating that economic ties remain robust and supply chains resilient.

Statistics on cross-Straits trade show that economic cooperation between the mainland and Taiwan region is strong. Despite the DPP's efforts to sever economic ties with the mainland, Taiwan businesses and entrepreneurs recognize the benefits of the vast market in the mainland, making "decoupling" difficult to achieve, Zhang said.

Global Times