Biden sparks confusion with commitment to Taiwan’s defence if Beijing attacks
- US president affirms that Washington would defend the island if it was attacked by mainland forces, contradicting long-standing position
- The last time he made similar remarks the White House stressed the administration’s Taiwan policy had ‘not changed’
Asked by CNN’s Anderson Cooper during a prime-time town hall event on Thursday whether the US would defend Taiwan if it was attacked by mainland forces Biden responded: “Yes, we have a commitment to do that.”
Though Washington does not have official diplomatic relations with Taipei, US law requires it support the island’s efforts to defend itself, including through the sales of weapons. But the Taiwan Relations Act does not include an explicit commitment to intervene militarily in the event of an invasion of or attack on Taiwan by the mainland.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin called on the US not to send the wrong signals to proponents of Taiwanese independence.
“No one should underestimate the determination and the capacity of the Chinese people to maintain [China’s] sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Wang said on Friday. “China has no room for concessions when it comes to its core interests.”
The US has long maintained a policy of strategic ambiguity on Taiwan, opting not to state whether it would take military action if the island came under attack. The strategy is designed to discourage Taiwan from taking any unilateral action to declare full independence, while also dissuading Beijing from unilaterally seeking to annex the island.
“RIP strategic ambiguity,” Derek Grossman, a senior defence analyst at the Rand Corporation, wrote in a tweet soon after Biden’s remarks.
But Shi Yinhong, an international relations professor at Renmin University, said strategic ambiguity would still be the direction for US policy towards Taiwan, though it was shifting towards more security cooperation with the island.