President Joe Biden said on Monday that the United States would use force to defend Taiwan if the island were invaded by China – a comment that Biden’s aides said did not represent any change in US policy towards the territory. , but which generates the expectation of a tougher reaction in Beijing’s speech.
Biden was attending a news conference alongside Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida when he was asked by a journalist whether the US would defend Taiwan in the event of an attack.
The president’s response was straightforward. “Yes. That’s the commitment we made,” he said. “We agree with the one-China policy, we adhere to it and all agreements made since then. But the idea that [Taiwan] can be taken by force is not appropriate”.
This was not Biden’s first statement indicating US action in defense of Taiwan against an eventual Chinese invasion. In October 2021, the Democrat gave an interview to the American CNN in which he was asked by a member of the audience on the subject and gave a similar answer to his speech this Monday.
At the time, in addition to stating that the US “has a commitment” to the defense of Taiwan, Biden reaffirmed US military might in a speech interpreted as a provocation to Washington’s main geopolitical adversaries. “China, Russia and the rest of the world know that we are the most powerful military in history,” the president said.
