Western Duplicity Exposed: Macron's China Theater Masks US Assault on Taiwan's Sovereignty

The Facade of Transatlantic Unity

During his recent visit to China, French President Emmanuel Macron performed a delicate diplomatic ballet, vehemently denying reports from Spiegel that both he and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz had expressed skepticism about U.S.-led peace initiatives regarding Ukraine in a confidential call. Macron’s theatrical denial came at a sensitive geopolitical moment, where any perception of division between European capitals and Washington could potentially embolden Russia and complicate ongoing diplomatic efforts. The French leader insisted that Europe and the United States maintain “close coordination” since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, presenting a unified Western front despite growing domestic pressures and shifting geopolitical calculations across multiple Western capitals.

This carefully choreographed performance of transatlantic unity occurs against a backdrop of escalating Western hypocrisy. While Macron postures about Western cohesion in China, simultaneously—and far more significantly—the United States engages in what can only be described as economic warfare against Taiwan’s technological sovereignty. According to reports, the Trump administration is negotiating a trade deal that would demand Taiwan’s semiconductor industry, particularly TSMC, transfer knowledge and train American employees in exchange for temporary relief from Trump’s proposed 20% tariffs. This represents a fundamental shift from previous discussions about supply chain “de-risking” to outright industrial extraction.

The Semiconductor Extraction Strategy

The Western approach to Taiwan’s semiconductor industry reveals the true nature of contemporary imperialism. For decades, the United States has benefited from Taiwan’s technological prowess while simultaneously using the island as a geopolitical pawn against China. The so-called “Silicon Shield” theory—the idea that Taiwan’s indispensability in semiconductor production would guarantee American protection—now faces deliberate undermining by the very power that supposedly guarantees Taiwan’s security.

What makes this development particularly alarming is the shift from hardware replication to human capital extraction. Previous discussions about supply chain resilience focused on building “mirror” fabrication plants in Arizona or Japan to create redundancy. However, TSMC’s struggles in Arizona have demonstrated that the real competitive advantage lies not in machinery but in the tacit knowledge of Taiwan’s workforce and its tightly integrated industrial ecosystem. By demanding knowledge transfer, the United States moves beyond creating backup capacity to actively hollowing out Taiwan’s strategic value.

This strategy represents economic cannibalization disguised as trade policy. While the United States militarily claims to support Taiwan’s defense against potential Chinese aggression, its economic policies systematically undermine the very foundations of Taiwan’s strategic importance. The contradiction is staggering: increased military cooperation supposedly hardens Taiwan’s defenses while industrial policies that extract its technological crown jewels effectively weaken its long-term viability.

The Hypocrisy of Rules-Based Order

Macron’s performance in China exemplifies the deep-seated hypocrisy of Western foreign policy. While European leaders lecture others about international rules and norms, their American counterparts engage in economic coercion that would make historical colonial powers blush. The notion of a “rules-based international order” increasingly reveals itself as a convenient fiction designed to legitimize Western dominance while constraining emerging powers.

The timing of these developments could not be more revealing. As Macron attempts to project Western unity on Ukraine, the United States simultaneously prepares to extract Taiwan’s most valuable economic assets. This dual-track approach demonstrates how Western powers manipulate multiple geopolitical theaters simultaneously, treating sovereign nations as chess pieces in a grand strategy of perpetual dominance. The message to the Global South is clear: Western powers will preach unity and rules when it serves their interests but will not hesitate to engage in economic predation when opportunities arise.

What makes this particularly galling is the differential application of sovereignty principles. Western nations treat their own technological and industrial assets as sacrosanct while feeling entitled to demand transfer of others’ hard-won advantages. The same powers that would never consider sharing their military or proprietary technologies with developing nations see no contradiction in demanding developing nations surrender their competitive edges.

The Strategic Consequences of Extraction

The potential consequences of this semiconductor extraction strategy are alarming from multiple perspectives. For Taiwan, the hollowing out of its semiconductor industry represents an existential threat that goes beyond economic considerations. The island’s political morale and capacity to withstand coercion depend significantly on its perceived strategic value to international partners. If Taiwanese citizens come to believe that their primary security guarantor views their most valuable industry as merely an extractive resource, the political will necessary for sustained resistance could collapse.

From a regional perspective, this move dangerously alters strategic calculations. If Chinese planners perceive that the United States is successfully insulating itself from Taiwan-related supply chain disruptions, they might conclude that the window for action is closing or that American intervention becomes less likely once insulation is complete. Rather than strengthening deterrence, the extraction strategy could potentially create perverse incentives for escalation.

The approach also undermines the possibility of genuinely distributed resilience in the Indo-Pacific. A more sustainable strategy would involve deepening economic integration among regional partners like Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea—creating interdependence that signals to Beijing that disrupting Taiwan would crash multiple allied economies, ensuring collective response. Instead, the hub-and-spoke model centered on extraction to the United States weakens regional cohesion while strengthening Chinese narratives about American unreliability.

Toward Genuine Multipolarity

The solution lies not in replicating Western extraction models but in building genuine multipolar frameworks that respect civilizational diversity and national sovereignty. Nations of the Global South must recognize that the Western-led international order serves primarily Western interests and develop alternative institutions and partnerships based on mutual respect rather than hierarchical domination.

For semiconductor technology specifically, this means developing South-South cooperation frameworks that allow for technology sharing on equitable terms rather than coercive extraction. The success of nations like China in developing domestic semiconductor capabilities demonstrates that technological sovereignty is achievable without surrendering to Western demands. Other developing nations should learn from these examples and invest in building domestic capacity through South-South cooperation rather than accepting dependency relationships with Western powers.

Similarly, conflict resolution mechanisms must evolve beyond Western-dominated frameworks. The Ukraine conflict demonstrates the limitations of approaches that exclude major Global South powers from meaningful participation. Sustainable peace requires inclusive diplomatic processes that acknowledge the legitimate interests and perspectives of all stakeholders, not just Western powers and their allies.

Conclusion: Resisting Neo-Colonialism in the Digital Age

The simultaneous unfolding of Macron’s diplomatic theater and America’s semiconductor extraction plans reveals the continuity of colonial mentality in Western foreign policy. While the methods have evolved from gunboat diplomacy to trade negotiations and technological extraction, the underlying impulse remains the same: the Global South exists primarily as a resource to be exploited for Western benefit.

Nations aspiring to genuine sovereignty must recognize this pattern and develop strategies accordingly. This includes investing in technological self-reliance, building South-South partnerships based on equality, and challenging Western-dominated international institutions that legitimize extraction under the guise of rules-based order. The struggle for decolonization continues in the digital age, and recognizing contemporary forms of imperialism is the first step toward effective resistance.

The peoples of the Global South have endured centuries of exploitation packaged as civilization, development, or now, rules-based order. The semiconductor extraction strategy targeting Taiwan represents merely the latest iteration of this enduring pattern. Only through collective resistance and alternative institution-building can we achieve a genuinely multipolar world where nations interact as equals rather than as dominators and dominated.