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image source, Archyde.com
Biden compared a possible Chinese attack on Taiwan to the situation in Ukraine.
United States President Joe Biden warned on Monday that China “flirts with danger” when referring to its actions in Taiwan and promised to intervene militarily to protect the island if it is attacked.
During a press conference in Tokyo, together with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, the US president also drew a parallel between Taiwan and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which provoked an angry response from Beijing.
Biden makes these remarks in the middle of his first tour of Asia as president of the United States, in which he also visited South Korea, another American ally in the region.
The US president began his speech by assuring that his country’s policy on Taiwan “has not changed.”
But this is the second time in recent months that he says US will defend Taiwan if China attackswhich is seen by experts in the field as a change in tone.
Previously, Washington did not specify what it would do in such a situation.
China views Taiwan as a breakaway province that should be brought back under its control.
“Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory… no room for compromise or concessions,” insisted Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin.
“The Taiwan question and the Ukraine question are fundamentally different. Comparing the two cases is absurd. We once again urge the United States to abide by the one-China principle,” he added.
image source, Getty Images
Chinese military planes regularly fly into Taiwan’s self-declared air defense zone.
The United States does not officially maintain diplomatic ties with Taiwan but sells it weapons as part of its Taiwan Relations Act, which requires Washington to provide the island with means to defend itself.
At the same time, it maintains formal ties with China and also diplomatically acknowledges Beijing’s position that there is only one Chinese government.
What did Biden say and why does it matter?
Responding to a question about Taiwan from a reporter at a press conference with the Japanese prime minister, Biden compared the situation between China and Taiwan to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“Are already flirting with danger right now flying so close and with all the maneuvering they’re doing,” Biden said, referring to growing reports of Chinese fighter jet incursions into Taiwan’s self-declared air defense zone.
“My expectation is that (a Chinese invasion) will not happen, that it will not be attempted,” he added.
But he said it all depended on “how strongly the world makes it clear that that kind of action is going to result in long-term disapproval.”
He was then asked directly if the US would defend Taiwan militarily after a Chinese invasion, considering that it has not done so after the invasion of Ukraine, and he replied: “Yes… that is the commitment we made.”
“The idea that (Taiwan) can be taken by force … is simply not appropriate,” added the US president.
Rupert Wingfield-Hayes Analysis
BBC correspondent in Japan
The US State Department began backing down on Joe Biden’s comments just minutes after his controversial remarks.
This is not the first time that the president affirms that the US will defend Taiwan.
It could be a way of expressing their deep concern about the invasion of Ukraine and the prospect of something similar happening in Taiwan.
In March, something very similar happened when he claimed that “Vladmir Putin cannot stay in power,” forcing US officials to quickly deny that Washington was calling for regime change in Moscow.
But when asked about it later, Biden didn’t back down. He only said that he was expressing “moral outrage” at what Putin was doing.
Today he seems to be saying that he will not let the same thing happen in Taiwan.
The official US government position on Taiwan is “strategic ambiguity“: The US does not commit to defending Taiwan, but it does not deny that it would do so.
This is supposed to keep China guessing what might happen after an invasion.
But as China has grown stronger and its threats to Taiwan have become more real, voices have been raised calling for an end to this deception.
Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe recently said it was time for the United States to come clean with Beijing and clarify whether it would defend Taiwan.
Others think this is a very bad idea and could provoke Beijing to accelerate its plans to retake the island.
Privately, many top officials in Washington and Tokyo are extremely concerned about Taiwan, given Beijing’s growing military advantage, and are groping for a new strategy to deal with the threat.
Meanwhile, Biden appears to be telling his own truth.
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