Tsai Ing-wen Photo:VCG

Taiwan's regional leader Tsai Ing-wen faced waves of mockery as she previously re-tweeted a White House post which included "Taiwan flag" but was later deleted by the White House, citing an "honest mistake." The mention of US friendship to the island of Taiwan is probably the "biggest joke I ever heard of," said Taiwan netizens.

"This was an honest mistake that was made by the team handling graphics and social media, and should not in any way be viewed as a shift in official US policy. When we recognized the mistake, we removed the tweet," press secretary Jen Psaki said at the White House daily press briefing on Thursday. 

She said the US remains committed to the one-China policy.

The White House COVID Response Team this week included a "Taiwan flag" among other flags in a tweet meant to indicate "nations" that had received shipments of coronavirus vaccine doses from the US. Tsai hurriedly retweeted the post, saying "Thank you to the US for your generosity. Together, we will beat this pandemic."

The White House' pulling of the original tweet has attracted much ridicule from Taiwan netizens for Tsai. "A beggar telling a rich man: Thank you for your generosity," read one reply left on Tsai's tweet.

Some other netizens from the island of Taiwan vented their anger online said that "stop bragging about the US friendship to us. This is reality! Open your eyes." Whilst another said "Taiwan and some politicians in Taiwan are just pathetic."

On Tuesday, US Indo-Pacific Coordinator Kurt Campbell said at an Asia Society event that "We support a strong unofficial relationship with Taiwan. We do not support Taiwan independence," Campbell said in response to a question from the moderator asking "how much love is too much?" when it comes to relations with the island.

Global Times