US will defend Taiwan if China invades, says Biden

Beijing ‘courting danger’ if it tries to seize island, but White House retracts president’s comment

JOE BIDEN declared he would be willing to intervene militarily in Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion, in a break from long-standing US policy, before his statement was retracted by the White House.

Asked in a Tokyo press conference if he would be “willing to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan if it comes to that?” the US President responded: “Yes... that’s a commitment we made.”

He warned that Beijing was “flirting with danger” if it tried to seize the democratic island and drew comparisons with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

His comments threatened to inflame tensions between the US and China, which insists Taiwan is part of its territory and cannot exist as a sovereign nation. Beijing’s ambitions to take over Taiwan – which the Chinese Communist Party claims even though it has never ruled there – have put the region on alert over a future conflict. According to a New York Times reporter who was in the room, the president’s declaration, offered without caveat or clarification, took some members of his administration by surprise.

Shortly after he spoke, a White House official tried to backtrack on his statement, saying, “There is no change in US policy towards Taiwan.”

“As the President said, our policy has not changed,” the official added.

“He 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 [give] Taiwan the military means to defend itself.”

It was the second time in less than a year that the White House was sent scrambling after Mr Biden’s comments on Taiwan. In October, he said the US would come to Taiwan’s defence in the event of an attack by China.

Mr Biden is on the second leg of his first trip to Asia, visiting both South Korea and Japan in what has been viewed as an attempt to bolster co-operation with regional allies in opposition to China’s growing assertiveness across the Indo-pacific. Matthew Kroenig, national security strategist at Georgetown University, tweeted: “Strategic ambiguity is over. Strategic clarity is here. This is the third time Biden has said this. Good. China should welcome this. Washington is helping Beijing to not miscalculate.”

Mr Biden’s remark was welcomed at home by Republicans, who have pushed the president for a tougher stance on Beijing.

“It does provide a deterrent message, that we will defend Taiwan. China needs to understand that,” said Michael Mccaul, the lead Republican on the house foreign affairs committee. Mr Biden said his expectation was that China would not use force to take the island, which functions like any other nation, with its own government, military and foreign policy.

However, in some of his strongest comments to date on the issue, he linked the outcome of Western attempts to help Ukraine repel the Russian invasion with lessons likely to be learnt in Beijing regarding Taiwan.

“It’s important that Putin pay a price for his barbarism in Ukraine”, Mr Biden has been quoted as saying. “Russia has to pay a long-term price.”