A “Screw Over Taiwan” plan catches flak

Taiwan is a little salty over this New York Times op-ed, which urges the U.S. to abandon its defense of Taiwan and let China overrun the island.

In return, China would take a flamethrower to its $1.14 trillion in American debt.

"The island’s absorption into mainland China is inevitable," writes op-ed contributor Paul Kane, a Marine and Harvard fellow.

"But the status quo is dangerous; if Taiwanese nationalist politicians decided to declare independence or if Beijing’s hawks tired of waiting for integration and moved to take Taiwan by force, America could suddenly be drawn into a multitrillion-dollar war."

Taiwan's Taipei Times decried the proposal as "facetious hogwash" and "morally bankrupt."

Business Insider deems it the "worst idea ever" for reducing America's national debt.

What's so wretched about it?

Forget morals. The "Screw Over Taiwan" plan, according to the magazine, would bankrupt China's financial system and show China that their debt holdings can be used to manipulate America's foreign policy.

Regardless of the proposal's ethical or practical legitimacy, it would be interesting to know whether the majority of Americans could accept it. Fretting over China's U.S. debt holdings is an increasingly popular American pastime.

But even if most Americans could abide by screwing Taiwan, could they tolerate how vulnerable the U.S. would appear once the deal was announced? Even Kane, the op-ed writer, acknowledges the plan would never pass through Congress at this point in time.