President Joe Biden has stated that the United States will defend Taiwan if China launches a “unprecedented attack” on the island, the latest in a series of pronouncements over the last year that has been unusually plain about America’s intentions in the face of mounting pressure from Beijing.
Biden was asked if US soldiers would defend Taiwan, a self-ruled democracy about 100 miles off the Chinese coast that Beijing claims as part of China, in an interview with CBS news show 60 Minutes that aired on Sunday.
“Yes, if in fact, there was an unprecedented attack,” Biden said.
When asked again if, unlike in Ukraine, US soldiers would get involved if China invaded, Biden said, “Yes.”
Since mid-2021, Biden has made three public statements implying that the US would become engaged in a fight over Taiwan.
According to some observers, the words contradict a long-standing US government penchant for ambiguity in defending Taiwan to prevent both China and Taiwan from adopting moves that could change the status quo.
According to the White House, the remarks do not constitute a shift in US policy.
Following the broadcast of the 60 Minutes interview, a White House official stated, “The president has said this before… He also made clear that our Taiwan policy hasn’t changed. That remains true.”
While US officials stress that America’s policy toward Taiwan has not changed, informal relations between Washington and Taipei have improved in recent years as tensions between the US and China have risen.
In a phone call in July, Chinese President Xi Jinping warned Biden against US intervention in the Taiwan issue, warning that “those who play with fire eventually get burned.”
Last month, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, becoming the most senior US official to visit the island since House Speaker Newt Gingrich went in 1997.
China was enraged by the visit, and in the weeks following, it conducted military manoeuvres near Taiwan and flew aeroplanes across the Taiwan Strait, which separates Taiwan from the mainland.
