US President Joe Biden stated that the US military would engage to defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion.
When asked if he was willing to get engaged militarily to defend Taiwan if China invaded, Biden, during a press conference in Tokyo with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida responded “yes”. He continued, “That’s the commitment we made.”
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Biden stated that the responsibility to defend Taiwan has become “even stronger.”
It was one of the most emphatic presidential statements in years in support of Taiwan.
The United States has typically avoided issuing such an explicit security commitment to Taiwan, with which it no longer has a mutual defense pact, instead opting for a policy of “strategic ambiguity” regarding how far it would go if China invaded.
China had conveyed its “strong dissatisfaction” to Biden’s remarks within hours of the US President’s statement, stating it would not allow any external power to intervene in its “internal affairs.”
Wang Wenbin, the spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry stated that there is no room for compromise on matters concerning China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as concessions on other core interests.
In recent years, China has increased its military provocations against democratic Taiwan in an attempt to pressure it into adopting Beijing’s demands for unification with the communist-ruled mainland.
Biden’s commitment to Taiwan comes at a time when US also acknowledges Beijing as the Chinese government and has no diplomatic relations with Taiwan under the “One China” policy.
