Large majority of Taiwanese oppose transfer of cutting-edge TSMC tech to US

The US also cares about the island as an unsinkable aircraft carrier. The reason the US helped Taiwan develop industrially in the first place was for anticommunist cold war reasons.

semiconductors are probably the only reason why the american empire gives a rat's ass about taiwan; without them, they would have been annexed by china by now and without american controversy.

Screwing everyone else has been a bipartisan imperialist project going back at least the late 19^th^ century. Biden blew up a NATO member’s gas pipeline. *It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal*. — Henry Kissinger

But we need to onshore the tech before we use you as a bait for our next war with a nuclear power.

Which is the correct take from them. Having others dependent on them is a modicum of protection from simply being a pawn for imperialists. They still mostly are, but this provides a little sovereignty.

Maybe if the USA weren't being such an upfront asshole about screwing everyone else it would have more luck dealing with other countries? But that's too subtle a concept for Trump.