https://ift.tt/zObEhwI in the administration of President Joe Biden keep insisting that nothing about the United States’ policy toward Taiwan has changed, but the president’s own repeated statements that the U.S. would defend the self-governing island in the event of an attack by China are making those assurances difficult for many to accept.
In an interview Sunday night with the CBS News program “60 Minutes,” Biden, for the fourth time since taking office in 2021, said that the United States would respond militarily to a Chinese attempt to take over Taiwan by force.
China claims Taiwan as part of its territory, and Chinese President Xi Jinping has made “reunification” of the island with the mainland a major goal of his government. China maintains that Taiwan is part of One China, despite the fact that the island has been self-governing since 1945.
For decades, the U.S. has tried to pursue a course of “strategic ambiguity” with regard to Taiwan. Relations between Washington and Taipei have been friendly, and the U.S. has for years sold military equipment to the Taiwanese government. At the same time, successive U.S. administrations have said they agree with the “One China” policy, with the caveat that any disagreement between Taiwan and China must be resolved without the use of force.
Prior U.S. presidents have attempted to create uncertainty about how the U.S. would react to Chinese military action against Taiwan, though without creating specific obligations.
‘60 Minutes’ exchange
Asked in the Sunday interview what Chinese leader Xi Jinping ought to understand about the United States’ commitment to Taiwan, Biden said, “We agree with what we signed onto a long time ago. And that there’s ‘One China’ policy, and Taiwan makes their own judgments about their independence. We are not moving — we’re not encouraging — their being independent. That’s their decision.”
Interviewer Scott Pelley followed up, asking, “But would U.S. forces defend the island?”