China Briefing | Biden’s Taiwan defence ‘gaffes’ could put China-US ties on a slippery slope
- The US president’s repeated remarks on Taiwan only serve to raise suspicions that Washington is moving towards scrapping its policy of ‘strategic ambiguity’
- It’s hard to overstate the implications of his so-called blunders. He should know better than goading China into a military confrontation neither side wants
In a press conference with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Monday during a visit to Japan, Biden declared that he would be prepared to use military force to defend the island if mainland China invaded – a move that would go beyond America’s involvement in Ukraine and suggested a shift from its long-standing policy of “strategic ambiguity”.
The White House promptly walked back Biden’s comments, insisting that its policy on Taiwan had not changed and indicating that the 79-year-old had misspoke again. But calling this another of Biden’s trademark gaffes is a disingenuous excuse.
Biden made similar public remarks in the United States on at least two occasions last year that the White House had to swiftly retract.
To misspeak once on probably the most important issue underpinning the China-US relationship can be construed as unintentional, but doing so at least three times in 12 months sounds a lot more like a deliberate move than a blunder.