Former U.S. deputy national security adviser Matthew Pottinger told a Taiwan defense forum that "doubt America" and "doubt Taiwan" narratives are myths pushed by Beijing and Moscow, and the real question is whether China keeps its word — a message meant to shore up Taiwan's confidence in its own defense.

• Beijing and Moscow use TikTok, Douyin, and Xiaohongshu algorithms to amplify doubts inside Taiwan about whether the U.S. would help in a crisis.
• The "doubt America" line is a myth: the U.S. has historically honored security commitments, and Washington knows it cannot afford to let China take Taiwan by force.
• The U.S.-Taiwan relationship goes beyond semiconductors; Japan, the Philippines, and other Pacific democracies rely on a free Taiwan to block Chinese military threats.
• The "doubt Taiwan" line in the U.S. underestimates Taiwanese resolve; trading democracy for peace would be a Faustian bargain that ends with neither.
• Hong Kong is the proof of where doubt belongs: Beijing broke its 50-year autonomy promise, jailing Jimmy Lai and Joshua Wong and disappearing a Macau democracy activist.

Pottinger also praised Taiwan's growing sense of urgency — larger Han Kuang and urban resilience drills, and drone exports set to jump roughly a hundredfold from 2024 levels — and urged Taiwan to build even more air and sea drone capacity.

Outlook: Expect Taiwan to keep expanding its drone industry and civil-defense drills while the information war over U.S. reliability intensifies ahead of any cross-strait crisis.