Biden Promises to Keep ‘Commitment’ to Defend Taiwan in Case of Attack by China

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U.S. President Joe Biden reiterated his country’s support for Taiwan, saying on Monday that his administration is willing to defend Taiwan with force if there is an attack by China’s communist party (CCP) on the mainland.

When asked by a reporter whether he would be willing to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan, Biden replied with a flat, “Yes.”

Biden then added, “It’s the commitment we made. Look, here’s the situation. We agree with a ‘One-China’ policy, we’ve signed onto it, and all the intended agreements made from there. But the idea that [Taiwan] can be taken by force … is just not appropriate,” he said of the CCP’s threats to its neighboring self-governed island.

“It will dislocate the entire region, and be another action similar to what happened in Ukraine. And so it’s a burden that is even stronger.”

The “One China Policy” abided to by the United States and other world governments is different from the CCP’s “One China Principle,” although the Chinese regime only recognizes its version of the policy. China considers Taiwan as part of its territory for the CCP to govern.

The United States acknowledges China’s stance, but does not recognize Taiwan as a part of China. In short, a policy can change while a principle can not.

U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price wrote on Twitter on May 21 to differentiate the views, “The PRC [People’s Republic of China] continues to publicly misrepresent U.S. policy. The United States does not subscribe to the PRC’s ‘one China principle’—we remain committed to our longstanding, bipartisan one China policy guided by the Taiwan Relations Act, Three Joint Communiques, and Six Assurances.”

Biden is in Japan to meet with numerous world leaders for the launching of a new U.S.-led Asia-Pacific network, the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), which has 13 countries signed up, including India and Japan, but not Taiwan.

IPEF seeks to rally cooperation among nations in the Asia-Pacific who are facing increasing assertiveness by the CCP in the region.

Regarding defending Taiwan, Biden also said that he does not expect such a scenario to happen.

The United States has maintained a “strategic ambiguity” regarding a military defense of Taiwan in the case of a Chinese attack.

Growing apprehensions regarding China have pushed Japan and its ruling Liberal Democratic Party to take a more hardline stance and build up its defense capabilities. Other nations in the region, including India, Korea, and the Philippines, are doing the same.