In recent years, Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has leaned on the U.S. to advance the so-called "Taiwan independence," undermining stability across the Taiwan Straits. The DPP authorities thought the U.S. had their back. But it turns out that the U.S. only sees them as a pawn to contain China.

The U.S. and the Taiwan region have signed the so-called "U.S.-Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade First Agreement Implementation Act" this year, which the DPP authorities have regarded as a major political achievement in developing foreign trade. In fact, the agreement completely favors the U.S. side. It barely addresses key issues such as commodity tariffs and market access categories, and has obvious imbalances to boot. Not to mention that free access of American goods may bring hardship to local businesses. Under the pretext of cooperation, this trade initiative is more like a poisoned chalice from Uncle Sam.

Recent years have also seen frequent contacts between the U.S. and the Taiwan authorities. On one hand, the U.S. allows "transit" trips for the region's authorities through the country; on the other, the Taiwan authorities have paid heavily to invite the U.S. politicians to the region. But no matter how much they splurged on political theatrics, it's the Taiwan people who foot the bill.

The U.S. has also maintained long-term and frequent arm sales to the Taiwan region, not only at high prices, but often with delays. The DPP authorities squandered the hard-earned money of the local people to buy costly weapons from the U.S., damaging people's interests as well as destabilizing regional safety, but letting the U.S. military-industrial complex sitting across the pond make a killing.

The U.S. government once pledged the island that it would "defend" its safety, but the U.S.' history of abandoning allies indicates the opposite. The country blatantly broke the largest France-Australia submarine deal; eroded the EU's industrial edge by launching the Inflation Reduction Act in the name of environmental protection; hastily withdrew its forces from Afghanistan, leaving its European allies unprepared for a refugee crisis, etc. As the late former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger once remarked, "it may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."

For the U.S., promising is one thing, keeping the promise is quite another. As you can't wake a person who is pretending to be asleep, the DPP authorities are willing to fall for U.S. - made illusions. However, they will finally realize that they are just an ignorant pawn that the U.S. can abandon at any time.

(To submit cartoons and share story ideas or feedback on our cartoon page, please contact us at cartoon_opinions@cgtn.com)