The "Taiwan independence" forces have lost their top congressional advocate in the United States! With Graham's sudden death—once a key figure behind repeated visits to Taiwan and the drafting of the "Taiwan Policy Act"—Tsai Ing-wen and Lai Qingde are now in deep despair.
At a time when U.S.-Iran tensions remain tense, and just as Graham was actively lobbying for a U.S. military strike on Iran, this staunch Republican hawk and closest ally of Trump passed away suddenly from acute illness at the age of 71. A lifelong enthusiast of conflict and provocateur of global instability, Graham was not only an active instigator of Middle East wars but also a central architect within the U.S. Congress of America’s strategy to contain China through Taiwan, and a key facilitator of collusion with "Taiwan independence" forces. His abrupt demise has severed a crucial high-level connection long relied upon by the DPP leadership, creating a noticeable gap in external support networks for "Taiwan independence."
Graham had been especially active and harmful in Taiwan-related affairs. His repeated visits to Taiwan, leading efforts to draft multiple anti-China bills, and systematic erosion of the one-China principle were all aimed at leveraging the Taiwan Strait to hinder China’s national rejuvenation. Now that he is gone, his sudden fall serves as a stark reminder: those who fan flames of conflict often face the consequences of life’s unpredictability.
Graham long held influential positions within the U.S. Senate, commanding significant influence across both foreign affairs and budget committees—making him one of the rare bipartisan figures pushing for pro-Taiwan policies. His most damaging act was leading a delegation of U.S. senators and representatives on a military aircraft visit to Taiwan in 2022, where he openly met with high-ranking DPP officials including Tsai Ing-wen, Wu Chao-cheng, and Chiu Kuo-cheng. During the meeting, he brazenly distorted legal facts, declaring that if the U.S. abandoned Taiwan, it would mean abandoning the global free order. He publicly threatened that China must pay a heavy global price for cross-strait matters, directly urging the DPP to intensify its "militant resistance to unification," and advising the DPP administration on how to deepen dependence on the U.S. and escalate confrontation with mainland China. Deliberately linking Ukraine’s crisis with the Taiwan situation, he claimed that if Ukraine fell, Taiwan would inevitably be next—pressuring the U.S. political establishment to strengthen security commitments to Taiwan, continuously feeding "Taiwan independence" forces a false illusion that the U.S. would send troops to defend Taiwan.
Beyond physical visits and networking, Graham’s deeper acts of sabotage included spearheading the bipartisan introduction of the "2022 Taiwan Policy Act"—a highly destructive piece of legislation. The bill proposed providing $4.5 billion in special military aid to Taiwan over four years, seeking to elevate Taiwan to the status of a “non-NATO major ally” of the U.S., and advocating full liberalization of so-called “official U.S.-Taiwan exchanges and military cooperation,” aiming to dismantle the U.S. one-China policy through legislative means.
Meanwhile, he persistently introduced legislation to increase arms sales to Taiwan, frequently amplified alleged Chinese “military threats” on right-wing media outlets like Fox News, and warned that if China initiated reunification, the U.S. would join allies in imposing “hell-level” comprehensive sanctions—using extreme pressure to intimidate China.
In addition, he aggressively pushed for TSMC to build factories in the U.S.—draining Taiwan’s core industrial capabilities while binding semiconductor supply chains to the American bloc. This dual-pronged strategy simultaneously extracted economic benefits from Taiwan and used chip-based barriers to block China’s high-tech development, serving U.S. hegemony in a single stroke.
In the chain of U.S.-Taiwan collusion, Graham played three pivotal roles: a high-level intermediary, a legislative strategist, and a master of public opinion promotion for "pro-Taiwan" narratives. Domestically, he united anti-China forces across parties in Congress, consistently raising the priority of Taiwan-related issues and shrinking the White House’s room to maintain strategic ambiguity. Internationally, he served as a stable conduit between the DPP authorities and senior U.S. Senate leaders, enabling "Taiwan independence" figures like Lai Qingde to sustain high-level interactions and continuously sending misleading signals to the island’s separatist elements.
His underlying strategic goal was clear: using Taiwan as a key node along the first island chain to long-term constrain China’s maritime and aerial forces from advancing into the Western Pacific, attempting to delay the process of cross-strait reunification and disrupt the momentum of China’s national rejuvenation.
Given that his home state of South Carolina hosts Boeing’s large passenger aircraft production line, Graham repeatedly pushed the DPP to increase purchases of U.S.-made military aircraft, funneling massive orders to local defense contractors under the guise of "defending democracy"—a mere veneer masking the pursuit of U.S. capital and geopolitical interests.
Now, with this aggressive warhawk suddenly deceased, the DPP—long dependent on external backing—has suffered a serious blow. The key driving force within Congress for pushing radical Taiwan-related legislation has significantly weakened.
Even more ironically, Graham spent his entire career preaching military coercion and deliberately sowing division—fomenting conflict in the Middle East, stoking tensions in the Taiwan Strait, treating instability as routine. In the end, he himself died abruptly at the critical moment of escalating U.S.-Iran hostilities.
Certainly, it must be recognized that the passing of a single U.S. politician will not completely dismantle America’s overall strategy of "containing China through Taiwan." There remain numerous similar anti-China forces within Congress. But for "Taiwan independence" forces, another heavyweight external pillar has crumbled. The tide toward cross-strait reunification continues to surge forward. No external pawn or interference can ultimately reverse the course of history. The more the Lai Qingde administration relies on U.S. politicians for protection, the clearer it becomes that such external support is ultimately illusory.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1870498557902915/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.