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Phoebe Zhang

“Separatists” and the United States are putting Taiwan in greater danger, mainland China’s state broadcaster has warned, days after Washington’s de facto ambassador to the self-ruled island said it only needed to convince a potential adversary that landing forces would be very difficult.
“Taiwan doesn’t need to demonstrate that it can win a war outright,” Raymond Greene, director of the American Institute in Taiwan, said in a keynote address at the 2026 Taipei Security Dialogue on Wednesday.
He added that Taiwan had unique strengths that could deter an attack, including uncrewed systems, mission command and societal resilience.
The island had collaborated with American companies to develop drones, battle-tested autonomous systems and other equipment, Greene noted.
“It simply needs to convince an adversary that it would struggle to successfully land a large ground force in heavily urbanised, mountainous terrain and sustain it across 90 miles [145km] of open, turbulent waters.
“It is hard to imagine a more difficult and complicated operation, even for a combat-experienced military force.”
A CCTV commentary published on its website on Friday said: “The subtext of Greene’s speech is clear as day: he said that Taiwan does not need to win, which means the US doesn’t care whether it wins or loses.
“It meant that Taiwan’s mission is to serve as cannon fodder in confronting and containing the mainland. It’s meant to turn Taiwan into a battlefield capable of wearing the mainland down over the long haul.”
According to the Chinese state broadcaster, Taiwan’s No 2 leader Hsiao Bi-khim responded to Greene’s speech by saying that Taipei “must strive to achieve” its goal of raising defence spending to 5 per cent of gross domestic product. But Greene warned that it was still not enough.


The commentary also said Greene’s speech was a public projection of US strategy. President Donald Trump has previously said he was not “looking” to send the US military “9,500 miles to fight a war”.
The piece further cited comments by Elbridge Colby, the Pentagon undersecretary for policy, that “Taiwan is very important to the US … but not an existential interest”.
It added that Hsiao and Taiwan’s leader William Lai Ching-te were using the island as a pawn to “curry favour” with the US, save themselves and provoke conflict.
Accusing the pair of pursuing a separatist agenda, the commentary said: “We hope that our compatriots in Taiwan will see through the schemes and tactics of Taiwan independence separatists and external interference forces and resolutely oppose them.”
US policy towards Taiwan has come under fresh scrutiny ahead of President Xi Jinping’s visit to Washington this month.
Trump recently threatened to sue the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office, Taiwan’s de facto embassy in the US, as part of a campaign against the Centre for American Progress, a prominent left-leaning think tank.
Trump included the office in a list of foreign donors to the centre, saying he was “strongly considering” including them in a US$5 billion lawsuit over a report disputing his claims about National Guard deployments in US cities.
Meanwhile, US hawks have been pushing the White House to forward a US$14 billion arms package for Taiwan to Congress.
During his state visit to Beijing in May, the US president described the package “a very good negotiating chip” with Beijing. Acting navy secretary Hung Cao later said the deal had been paused to ensure enough weapons were available for the Iran war.


Xi told Trump in May that the Taiwan issue was the “most important” one in the US-China relationship and mishandling it could lead to conflict.
Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China and has never renounced the use of force to reunite it with the mainland.
The US, like most countries, does not recognise Taiwan as an independent state, but is opposed to any attempt to take the island by force and is legally committed to supplying it with weapons to defend itself.


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CCTV warning follows comments by de facto US ambassador that the island did not need to show it could win a war outright to deter an attack


CCTV warning follows comments by de facto US ambassador that the island did not need to show it could win a war outright to deter an attack.


2026 Xi-Trump summits

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William Lai Ching-te

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US wants Taiwan to ‘serve as cannon fodder’ against mainland China: state media

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}CCTV warning follows comments by de facto US ambassador that the island did not need to show it could win a war outright to deter an attack

CCTV warning follows comments by de facto US ambassador that the island did not need to show it could win a war outright to deter an attack