US position on Taiwan unchanged despite Joe Biden comment on defending the island, officials say

In an interview about Afghanistan, the president appeared to lump Taiwan with Japan, South Korea and Nato, saying the US would respond to an invasion

Washington has long followed a policy of ‘strategic ambiguity’ on whether it would intervene militarily in the event of a Chinese attack

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The US policy towards Taiwan remains one of “strategic ambiguity”, Biden administration officials said on Thursday. Photo: Reuters

Published: 3:21am, 20 Aug 2021Updated: 9:57pm, 20 Aug 2021

US officials stressed on Thursday that Washington’s policy towards Taiwan had not changed, after President Joe Biden said in an interview that his administration would “respond” if the island were invaded.

Biden’s comment, in an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos about Afghanistan, seemed a departure from Washington’s long-standing policy of “strategic ambiguity”, though analysts considered it a misstatement.

The US has long refrained from explicitly stating whether it would intervene militarily if China sought to take Taiwan by force – a policy of deliberate ambiguity that proponents say deters military action by Beijing while preserving Washington’s relations on both sides of the strait.

But under questioning from Stephanopoulos about whether Taiwan could count on the US after its chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, Biden’s response appeared unambiguous.

“We made a sacred commitment to Article Five that if in fact anyone were to invade or take action against our Nato allies, we would respond,” he said in the interview, which was broadcast on Thursday. “Same with Japan, same with South Korea, same with Taiwan.”

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