If China invades Taiwan …: US President Joe Biden warns ‘military intervention’
India Today
Speaking at a news conference in Tokyo, President Joe Biden said that the US would intervene militarily if China were to invade Taiwan.
President Joe Biden said Monday that the US would intervene militarily if China were to invade Taiwan, saying the burden to protect Taiwan is "even stronger" after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. It was one of the most forceful presidential statements in support of self-governing in decades.
Biden, at a news conference in Tokyo, said “yes” when asked if he was willing to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan if China invaded. “That's the commitment we made,” he added.
The US traditionally has avoided making such an explicit security guarantee to Taiwan, with which it no longer has a mutual defence treaty, instead maintaining a policy of “strategic ambiguity" about how far it would be willing to go if China invaded.
The 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, which has governed US relations with the island, does not require the US to step in militarily to defend Taiwan if China invades, but makes it American policy to ensure Taiwan has the resources to defend itself and to prevent any unilateral change of status in Taiwan by Beijing.
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Biden's comments were likely to draw a sharp response from the mainland, which has claimed Taiwan to be a rogue province.
A White House official said Biden's comments did not reflect a policy shift.
