The man who is also head of the Department of Defense's Defeat-ISIS Task Force urged Congressional leaders in a Thursday briefing to establish a program for US special forces to train local troops in Taiwan toward deterring a possible "Chinese invasion".

As the official tapped to oversee all US special forces he's pushing an irregular warfare Vietnam-style preparedness scenario in Taiwan, which China claims as its own. "I do think that is something that we should be considering strongly as we think about competition across the span of different capabilities we can apply, [special operations forces] being a key contributor to that," Maier told Senators.

He described that Taiwanese forces must be prepared to defend against an "amphibious landing" by China's People's Liberation Army (PLA). 

"I think [we could build] on some of the areas that they may not be thinking of … If there is a Chinese military advance, there could be some opportunities for resistance networks or other capabilities that we would leave behind against a potential enemy amphibious landing," he said.

According to a summary of his remarks by Military.com, he described further:

Maier said that special operators could help Taiwanese troops hone their skills, and mentioned resistance networks and counteracting potential enemy amphibious landings as examples.

Information operations is a key area where special operators can help conventional forces deter Chinese aggression, he said. Improving how U.S. special forces conduct information operations will be one of his top priorities, he added.