When he indicated that the US military would defend Taiwan from an invasion by China, Vice President Joe Biden made the strongest signal yet that Washington is shifting away from its decades-long policy of strategic ambiguity toward the democratic island when he indicated that the US military would defend Taiwan from an invasion by China.
In the latest series of unusually forthright statements about US intentions in the face of growing pressure from Beijing, Vice President Biden has stated that the United States will defend Taiwan if China launches an “unprecedented attack” on the island.
On Sunday’s episode of 60 Minutes on CBS, host Scott Pelley asked Vice President Joe Biden if the U.S. would support Taiwan, a self-governed democracy about 100 miles off the coast of China that Beijing claims as part of China.
“Yes, if there was an unprecedented attack,’ Biden said.
Vice President Joe Biden said, “Yes,” when he was asked again if U.S. soldiers would stop a Chinese invasion.
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Biden has publicly hinted at U.S. involvement in a fight over Taiwan three times since the middle of 2021.
For some observers, these comments run counter to a long-held policy of ambiguity on the part of U.S. administrations on the defense of Taiwan, which has been used to prevent both China and Taiwan from taking actions that could alter the status quo.
According to the White House, there will be no shift in U.S. policy.
White House Spokesman After 60 Minutes Interview: “President Bush has made this claim before. It was also made clear at the time that our stance on Taiwan had not changed. That’s still correct. “
At a press conference in Beijing, Mao Ning, a spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that China has filed an official complaint with the United States in response to Biden’s comments.
She asked the U.S. to “keep the peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait from getting worse” by not sending “wrong signals to the separatist forces of Taiwan independence.”
The Communist Party of China considers the status of Taiwan to be unfinished business from the country’s 1949 civil war, which concluded with the Nationalist Party retreating to Taiwan. Beijing says it will bring Taiwan back into China, preferably through diplomatic channels but by any means necessary if that doesn’t work.
But surveys show that the vast majority of Taiwan’s 23 million people are happy with how things are now and don’t want to join China.
Asked about Beijing’s red line for Taiwan’s independence, Vice President Biden said the United States was not promoting it, but added, “Taiwan makes their own judgments about their independence — that’s their decision.”
The United States is obligated to provide Taiwan with defensive equipment under the law. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, discussions regarding the best way to do this have heated up. The balance of power across the Taiwan Strait has changed because China has been modernizing its military in a big way for many years.
In recent years, as tensions between the United States and China have increased, informal relations between Washington and Taipei have warmed. This is despite the fact that U.S. officials stress that America’s policy toward Taiwan has not altered.
Chinese President Xi Jinping called Vice President Biden in July to warn him against interfering in Taiwan’s affairs, saying “those who play with fire inevitably get burned.”
Recently, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi traveled to Taiwan, making her the highest-ranking American official to visit the island since Newt Gingrich did so in 1997.
Since then, China has flown airplanes across the median line in the middle of the Taiwan Strait, which separates Taiwan from the mainland, and has conducted military drills near Taiwan.
