US wants Taiwan to ‘serve as cannon fodder’ against mainland China: state broadcaster CCTV
Por Phoebe Zhang — South China Morning Post – News feed
Advertisement Taiwan China Politics US wants Taiwan to ‘serve as cannon fodder’ against mainland China: state media
Warning follows comments by de facto US ambassador that the island didn’t need to show it could win a war outright to deter an attack
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Phoebe Zhang in Shenzhen Published: 2:00pm, 12 Sep 2026 Updated: 2:27pm, 12 Sep 2026
“Separatists” and the United States are putting Taiwan in greater danger, state broadcaster CCTV warned on Friday after Washington’s de facto ambassador said the island could convince a potential adversary that landing forces would be very difficult.
Raymond Greene, the director of the American Institute in Taiwan , said in a keynote address at the 2026 Taipei Security Dialogue on Wednesday that “Taiwan doesn’t need to demonstrate that it can win a war outright”.
He added that Taiwan had unique strengths that could deter an attack, including uncrewed systems, mission command and societal resilience.
He added that the island had collaborated with American companies to develop drones, battle-tested autonomous systems and other equipment.
“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,” Greene said.
“It is hard to imagine a more difficult and complicated operation, even for a combat-experienced military force.”
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