TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A proposal for the U.S. government to purchase Taiwan has emerged on the We the People webpage, the White House's online petitioning system.

Titled “Purchase Taiwan,” the petition was created on Tuesday (Aug. 27) and calls upon Washington to buy the strategically important island country. It had garnered more than 500 signatures by Thursday (Aug. 29), though it would require the collection of 100,000 signatures in 30 days for the U.S. administration to issue a response, according to the rule of the mechanism.

The petition emphasizes the role of Taiwan in battling against “an authoritarian regime bent on annexing it.” Stressing that the people of Taiwan share core values with Americans, including freedom, democracy, and human rights, the petition says purchasing Taiwan will “bolster U.S. security and protect Taiwanese people from Communism.”

The petition facetiously reckons that purchasing Taiwan "instead of Greenland" would create a win-win situation. It is apparently referring to a recent offer by U.S. President Donald Trump to purchase Denmark-administered Greenland that stunned the world and has been ridiculed as an “April Fool’s Day joke,” wrote the Financial Times.

The proposal has been dismissed by Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA). In a regular press conference held Thursday, MOFA spokesperson Joanne Ou (歐江安) stated that Taiwan, which has its own institutions, military forces, and maintains diplomatic ties with more than 100 countries, is not for sale.

Ou added the government will continue to monitor the development of the campaign and take action accordingly, reported the Central News Agency.