The stated aim on the mainland side is reunification. Anyone with two brain cells would know that bombing a place to shit and then try to run it is going to be hell. See Iraq.
Taiwan knows that if they go for de jure independence, then that will leave the mainland with no choice but military action.
US knows that this is the juiciest way to do a Bait and Bleed (using Mearsheimer's terms), and will do whatever it takes to drum up the possibility while not directly engaging in an armed conflict with China.
This is just standard operating procedures when you have more than hegemons in the world.
The media has a duty to report facts, only after they know them to be facts.
Well.. they used to have that duty. Now it’s just clickbait.
Anyone recall even seeing the acronym "CCP" in print before 2018 or so? Then suddenly it's ubiquitous and everyone knows it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Epoch_Times
or suffered through endless advertisements for Shen Yun.
Edit: according to above, they've pivoted somewhat in terms of their political stance and direction since 2016.
Apparently Doctor Strange 2 ran afoul of censors for neglecting to scrub out an Epoch Times newspaper box that appeared briefly in a scene shot on location in New York.
I wouldn't credit them for mainstream media's turn, though. We need a big bad and afghan goat farmers weren't cutting it.
If the threat is "they will be more powerful than the US within like 100 miles of their borders", I can understand concern on the part of Taiwan specifically but it's a little greedy for the US to need every single inch of the oceans..
The shift was not exclusive to the media though. The US state department pivoted and went as far as removing active terrorist groups executing attacks near (Afghanistan, Turkmenistan) and in Western China, that the US itself was bombing, from the US terror watch lists at around the same time.