US seeks to contain Beijing anger after Biden vows Taiwan defence
WASHINGTON: The US on Friday sought to prevent an escalation with China, saying there was no change in Taiwan policy after President Joe Biden promised to defend the island from attack by Beijing.
Tensions have soared in recent months as Beijing steps up air incursions near Taiwan, a self-ruling democracy that the growing Asian power has vowed one day to take over, by force if necessary.
At a CNN televised forum in Baltimore on Thursday evening, Biden was asked whether the US would come to Taiwan’s defense if China invaded. “Yes,” he responded. “We have a commitment to that.”
Biden’s statement appeared at odds with the long-held US policy of ‘strategic ambiguity’, where Washington helps build Taiwan’s defences but does not explicitly promise to come to the island’s help in the event of war.
The US clarified Friday that it was still guided by the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, in which Congress required the US to provide weaponry to ‘enable Taiwan to maintain sufficient self-defence capabilities’.
“The president was not announcing any change in our policy and there is no change in our policy,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters, reiterating earlier White House comment.
“We will uphold our commitments under the act, we will continue to support Taiwan’s self-defence and will continue to oppose any unilateral changes to the status quo,” Price said.
Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, on a visit to Nato headquarters in Brussels, declined to discuss ‘hypotheticals’ but said the US “will continue to help Taiwan with the sorts of capabilities that it needs to defend itself.”
Beijing said that Biden’s comments risked “damaging Sino-US relations,” warning Washington on Friday to ‘act and speak cautiously on the Taiwan issue’.