TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — After former Kuomintang Legislator Alex Tsai (蔡正元) cited an American journalist as saying the White House has a plan for Taiwan’s destruction, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) refuted the claim and revealed the source’s Russian affiliation.

Journalist Garland Nixon on Thursday (Feb. 16) claimed that U.S. President Joe Biden said the White House had a “plan for the destruction of Taiwan.” A few days later, Taiwan caught on to the news, which was spread further when Tsai shared it on social media on Tuesday (Feb. 21) and called Nixon “a famous radio show host in Washington, D.C.”

In response, MOFA wrote in a press release that Nixon in fact works for Russian state-run media, Radio Sputnik, which was founded according to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s executive order. “Radio Sputnik has long been a tool for the Russian government to promote propaganda, and the U.S. court in 2019 ruled its radio station ‘WZHF-AM’ as a ‘Russian government agent’ that must be registered with the U.S. Department of Justice according to the ‘Foreign Agents Registration Act.’”

MOFA added that Nixon’s Twitter account is filled with “sensationalizing tweets that abuse the U.S. government” and obviously not a reliable source. The ministry urged Tsai to stop spreading unconfirmed misinformation and misleading the public.

Meanwhile, CNA cited the American Institute in Taiwan as saying its policy towards Taiwan has adhered to the Taiwan Relations Act, Three Communiques, and Six Assurances for the past 40 years. It added that not only does the U.S. have “grave concern” about any attempt to decide Taiwan’s future non-peacefully, the U.S. will also maintain the ability to stop any force or threat that may harm Taiwan’s security and socioeconomic systems.

Despite Sputnik News’ listing Nixon as “a broadcast journalist at Radio Sputnik in Washington DC,” Tsai insisted that he has no affiliation with Russia in another post published on Wednesday (Feb. 22). “If Garland Nixon was a Russian journalist, he would’ve been sanctioned long ago … Let me also tell the retarded Democratic Progressive Party, Garland Nixon is not only a famous host in D.C., he often appears on Fox News as a political commenter. He is very famous.”

However, as a commenter pointed out, the Fox News screenshot Tsai included in the post was from 2018. According to Sputnik News, Nixon was active on Fox News during the 2010s.