US policy on Taiwan aims to keep the status quo, White House official says

Indo-Pacific coordinator Kurt Campbell says Washington’s policy is consistent and ‘will continue’
His remarks come a day after US President Joe Biden affirmed that American troops would defend the island from an attack by Beijing

Taiwan

Kyodo

Published: 11:50am, 20 Sep 2022

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The US government has not changed its policy on Taiwan in that its main goal is to secure the status quo and not to escalate the situation there, a senior White House official said on Monday after US President Joe Biden asserted Washington’s defence commitment to the self-ruled island.

Emphasising that the president’s remarks “speak for themselves”, White House Indo-Pacific coordinator Kurt Campbell told a think tank event in New York, “I do think our policy has been consistent and is unchanged, and will continue.”

During a TV interview that aired on Sunday, Biden said “yes” when asked if US troops would defend Taiwan in the event of an attack by Beijing, his clearest response yet on the issue of whether the United States would come to the aid of the island.

Biden says US troops would defend Taiwan from attack by Beijing

The remarks were seen as a deviation from Washington’s long-standing policy to maintain “strategic ambiguity” regarding the use of military force in response to a People’s Liberation Army attack on Taipei.

It was the fourth time during his presidency that Biden indicated the United States was resolved to defend Taiwan in a contingency. Each time, White House officials have said there was no change in US policy.

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Campbell, appearing online for the event organised by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said the “primary goal” of US policy on Taiwan was “the maintenance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait” and “to secure and stabilise the status quo”.

The US government wants to make sure there is a “healthy dialogue and discussion” to try to avoid escalation or “situations of inadvertence”, he said.

These goals “are consistent with previous administrations as well”, he added.

Taiwan and mainland China have been separately governed since they split due to a civil war in 1949. Beijing has since endeavoured to bring the island back into its fold.

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The United States changed its diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979 but has kept up unofficial relations with Taiwan and supplies the island with arms and spare parts to help it maintain sufficient self-defence capabilities.

The “strategic ambiguity” policy is intended not only to deter Beijing from using force against Taiwan but also to dissuade Taiwan from seeking independence, as neither Beijing nor Taipei can be certain the United States would intervene to defend the island should a conflict arise.

Some lawmakers in the United States have called for “strategic clarity” to deter Beijing as it increases its military activity in the region and its pressure on Taiwan.