{"id":4111,"date":"2022-05-23T14:29:21","date_gmt":"2022-05-23T19:29:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/whia.us\/?p=4111"},"modified":"2022-05-23T14:40:05","modified_gmt":"2022-05-23T19:40:05","slug":"biden-says-u-s-military-would-defend-taiwan-if-china-invaded","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whia.us\/en\/4111\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden Says U.S. Military Would Defend Taiwan if China Invaded"},"content":{"rendered":"

Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Peter Bake<\/strong>r<\/p>\n

TOKYO \u2014 President Biden indicated on Monday that he would use military force to defend Taiwan if it were ever attacked by China, dispensing with the \u201cstrategic ambiguity\u201d traditionally favored by American presidents and repeating even more unequivocally statements that his staff tried to walk back in the past.<\/p>\n

The president\u2019s declaration, offered without caveat or clarification, set the stage for fresh tensions between the United States and China, which insists that Taiwan is a part of its territory and cannot exist as a sovereign nation. It also surprised some members of Mr. Biden\u2019s own administration watching in the room, who did not expect him to promise such unvarnished resolve. The United States has historically warned China against using force against Taiwan while generally remaining vague about how far it would go to aid the island in such a circumstance.<\/p>\n

The White House quickly tried to deny that the president meant what he seemed to be saying. \u201cAs the president said, our policy has not changed,\u201d the White House said in a statement hurriedly sent to reporters. \u201cHe reiterated our One China Policy and our commitment to peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. He also reiterated our commitment under the Taiwan Relations Act to provide Taiwan with the military means to defend itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Mr. Biden\u2019s comments went beyond simply reiterating that the United States would provide Taiwan with arms, because the question was posed as a contrast to what he had done with Ukraine. The president made no effort to qualify what he intended when he agreed that he would \u201cget involved militarily.\u201d<\/p>\n

In fact, he repeated the notion that his commitment to Taiwan went beyond what he had done for Ukraine. \u201cThe idea that that can be taken by force, just taken by force, it\u2019s just not appropriate,\u201d he said of Taiwan. \u201cIt would dislocate the entire region and be another action similar to what happened in Ukraine. And so it\u2019s a burden that is even stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Biden had ignored the practiced imprecision of his predecessors with regard to China and Taiwan before in his presidency. Last August, in reassuring allies after his decision to abandon the government of Afghanistan, he promised that \u201cwe would respond\u201d if there was an attack against a fellow member of NATO and then added, \u201csame with Japan, same with South Korea, same with Taiwan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taiwan, however, has never been granted the same U.S. security guarantees as Japan, South Korea or America\u2019s NATO allies, and so the comment was seen as significant. Two months later, Mr. Biden was asked during a televised town hall if the United States would protect Taiwan from attack. \u201cYes, we have a commitment to do that,\u201d he said. That also set off a frantic scramble by the White House to walk back his remark by insisting that he was not changing longstanding policy.<\/p>\n

Indeed, the president has made a habit of disregarding the cautions his staff would prefer he take in confronting overseas adversaries. In March, Mr. Biden went further than his administration had gone by calling President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia a war criminal in response to a reporter\u2019s question. Barely a week later, he caused a stir when he ad-libbed a line at the end of a speech in Poland declaring that Mr. Putin \u201ccannot remain in power.\u201d<\/p>\n

While war in Taiwan does not appear to be imminent, China\u2019s leader, Xi Jinping, has taken a more aggressive stance than his predecessors, who long vowed to bring the island under their control, viewing the issue as the unfinished business of a bloody civil war waged more than a half-century ago.<\/p>\n

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has heightened urgency in Washington, where officials are re-examining Taiwan\u2019s defensive capabilities to ensure it could fight off an invasion. The war has been watched closely in Asia, too, for whatever lessons it would hold for China\u2019s intentions toward Taiwan. If Russia were to succeed in conquering Ukraine, once part of its empire, some feared it would offer a dangerous precedent. Yet Russia\u2019s abject failure to take over the entire country and the unified Western response may serve as a red flag to military adventurism.<\/p>\n

China sent 14 aircraft into the island\u2019s air defense zone last week on the day that Mr. Biden arrived in Asia, according to Taiwan\u2019s Defense Ministry, part of a pattern of increasing incursions over the last year. Taiwan scrambled fighter jets in response, but no direct conflict was reported.<\/p>\n

For many in Taiwan, China\u2019s authoritarian turn under Mr. Xi, and its moves to crush pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, have made any deeper political ties to the country unpalatable. On Monday, Taiwan\u2019s Foreign Ministry welcomed Mr. Biden\u2019s latest comments, expressing \u201cgratitude\u201d to the president for affirming America\u2019s \u201crock-solid commitment to Taiwan.\u201d In a statement, the ministry said Taiwan would \u201ccontinue to improve its self-defense capabilities and deepen cooperation with the United States and Japan and other like-minded countries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beijing, on the other hand, issued a ritual rejection of the president\u2019s remarks. \u201cOn issues concerning China\u2019s sovereignty, territorial integrity and other core interests, China has no room for compromise,\u201d Wang Wenbin, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, told reporters, adding that no one should underestimate China\u2019s determination to defend itself.<\/p>\n

Mr. Biden\u2019s comments came barely an hour before he formally unveiled a new 13-nation Indo-Pacific Economic Framework intended to serve as a counter to Chinese influence in the region. Wrapping up the event, Mr. Biden ignored shouted questions about what a military intervention in Taiwan would look like and whether he was prepared to put American troops on the ground.<\/p>\n

Mr. Kishida, who spoke in strong terms about China during the news conference, expressed concern about a Ukraine-style conflict over Taiwan. Any \u201cunilateral attempt to change the status quo by force like Russia\u2019s aggression against Ukraine this time should never be tolerated in the Indo-Pacific,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, he stuck to the traditional policy and maintained before the president\u2019s comments that U.S.-Japan policy on the island was still the same. \u201cOur two countries\u2019 basic position on Taiwan remains unchanged,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr. Biden\u2019s unscripted declaration put Japan in a complicated position. With Taiwan just 65 miles from Yonaguni, the westernmost inhabited Japanese island, a war with China carries enormous potential consequences for Japan, which has disavowed armed conflict since its defeat in World War II.<\/p>\n

\u201cCertainly, Mr. Biden said \u2018America is in,\u2019\u201d said Narushige Michishita, vice president of the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo. \u201cThat means Japan will be in, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Mr. Kishida would not be so blunt as Mr. Biden, he added, his administration aims to increase the defense budget, while discussing plans to acquire weapons capable of striking missile launch sites in enemy territory and to conduct more exercises with American forces.<\/p>\n

\u201cChinese planners must take the possibility of Japan getting involved into account when they plan and when they decide whether or not to attack Taiwan,\u201d Mr. Michishita said. Forcing China to consider the prospect of facing American and Japanese forces, he said, would ultimately \u201cenhance the possibility of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.\u201d<\/p>\n

Source: NYT<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Zolan Kanno-Youngs reported from Tokyo, and Peter Baker from Seoul. Motoko Rich contributed reporting from Tokyo, Paul Mozur from Seoul and John Liu from Taipei.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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Biden Says U.S. Military Would Defend Taiwan if China Invaded<\/a><\/blockquote>