Washington, D.C., 19 September 2022 (TDI): The President of the United States, Joe Biden said the US military troops would protect Taiwan from an “unprecedented attack.”
This was the President’s latest statement of solidarity as his administration works to discourage China from putting military pressure on Taiwan’s democratically elected government.
President Biden made the comment during a Sunday interview with “60 Minutes,” while avoiding the subject of whether Taiwan is or should be independent.
AHEAD ON THE BROADCAST: President Biden tells 60 Minutes U.S. troops would defend Taiwan, but White House says this is not official U.S. policy https://t.co/hE1AOoQyun
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) September 18, 2022
The interviewer questioned the president if the US military would “defend the island?” According to the transcript given by the station, Biden responded, “Yes, if in fact there was an unprecedented attack.”
The interviewer then questioned whether this indicated that, unlike the present scenario in Ukraine, the US military would protect Taiwan in the event of a Chinese attack, to which the president replied, “yes.”
Earlier in the interview, Biden stated that the US will maintain its “One China” policy, in which it has resisted official recognition of the Taiwan government or giving it an enforceable security guarantee.
The President remarked, “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.”
Biden has made similar remarks as president on other occasions as well, prompting Beijing to object and injecting further doubt into Washington’s longtime stance of “strategic ambiguity” toward Taiwan. China regards Taiwan as its territory, despite the fact that the Communist Party has never governed it and has not ruled out force to keep it from gaining total independence.
The CBS interview with Biden took place last week. Currently, the president is in the United Kingdom for Queen Elizabeth’s funeral.
The Chinese stance:
During a press conference in Beijing on Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning asked the US to “fully understand the extremely important and highly sensitive nature of the Taiwan question and abide by the one China principle.” Failure to do so, she noted, might result in “further damage to China-US relations and peace and stability across the Strait.”
