CBS News (“Biden tells 60 Minutes U.S. troops would defend Taiwan, but White House says this is not official U.S. policy“):
Last Thursday, the same day 60 Minutes spoke to President Joe Biden, Vladimir Putin met with China’s leader, Xi Jinping. There’s concern that Russia’s war in Ukraine could inspire China to attack the island of Taiwan. U.S. policy since 1979 has been to recognize Taiwan as part of China, but remain silent on whether the U.S. military would defend the democratic government there. 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley asked Mr. Biden about that.
“What should Chinese President Xi know about your commitment to Taiwan?” Pelley asked the president.
“We agree with what we signed onto a long time ago,” the president said. “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. We’re not– that– that’s their decision.”
“But would U.S. forces defend the island?” Pelley asked.
“Yes, if in fact there was an unprecedented attack,” Mr. Biden said.
“So unlike Ukraine, to be clear, sir,” Pelley said, “U.S. forces, U.S. men and women would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion?”
“Yes,” the president said.
After the interview, a White House official said U.S. policy on Taiwan has not changed. Officially, the U.S. maintains “strategic ambiguity” on whether American forces would defend Taiwan, but the Taiwan Relations Act obligates the U.S. to help equip Taiwan to defend itself.
WaPo (“Biden says U.S. troops would defend Taiwan in event of attack by China”) adds:
The interview is the latest of several occasions in which Biden has said that the United States would come to Taiwan’s defense militarily if China were to attack. Each time, White House officials emphasized that his remarks did not represent any change in U.S. policy.
A Biden administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the issue, pointed to remarks the president made in May, when he told reporters that the practice of strategic ambiguity toward Taiwan remained. At the time, he did not elaborate and did not explicitly say he would send U.S. troops to Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion.
“He also made clear then that our Taiwan policy hasn’t changed,” the official said. “That remains true.”
A representative from the State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday.
It also makes a subtle correction to the show’s setup (not Biden’s remarks):
The “60 Minutes” segment erroneously stated that U.S. policy since 1979 has recognized Taiwan as part of China. Under the United States’ “one-China policy,” the American government under various administrations has for decades acknowledged Beijing’s view without taking a position on the status of Taiwan’s sovereignty.
That may seem a distinction without a difference but it’s not. Indeed, for all intents and purposes, we treat Taiwan as a sovereign state but go through some weird machinations in maintaining a legal fiction that we do not in order to appease China.
Under the Taiwan Relations Act, which was signed by President Jimmy Carter in 1979, the United States agreed to provide Taiwan with arms to defend itself, and “to maintain the capacity of the United States to resist any resort to force or other forms of coercion that would jeopardize the security, or the social or economic system, of the people on Taiwan.” The language neither guarantees nor rules out the possibility of military intervention, though the United States has long practiced “strategic ambiguity” when it comes to what it would do.
In the “60 Minutes” interview, Biden appeared to refer to the Taiwan Relations Act when asked what Chinese President Xi Jinping should know about Biden’s commitment to Taiwan.
“We agree with what we signed onto a long time ago,” Biden told Pelley. “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.”
Further,
Tensions between the United States and China — as well as between China and Taiwan — have escalated in recent months. Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, Biden sent an unofficial delegation of former U.S. defense and national security officials to Taiwan, an effort to show that the United States’ commitment to Taiwan “remains rock solid,” an administration official said at the time.
Last month, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) traveled with a congressional delegation to Taipei, becoming the first House speaker to visit Taiwan since Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) did so in 1997. There, the delegation met with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, and Pelosi repeatedly affirmed the United States’ “commitment to” and “enduring friendship” with Taiwan.
So, here’s the thing: The President has repeatedly and forthrightly made public proclamations that the United States would defend Taiwan against a Chinese invasion with military force. Reports from the National Enquirer notwithstanding, I do not believe Joe Biden is senile. So, I believe this to be an intentional and calculated shift in US foreign policy.
In that light, I have revised my assessment of Pelosi’s trip. Rather than a reckless stunt, it was an intentional reinforcement of this new policy, thinly disguised as an unauthorized visit by the Speaker. As I was recently reminded, Members of Congress do not travel abroad without robust support from the Defense Department and State Department.
I’m torn as to whether this ratcheting up of pressure on Beijing is a wise policy. Regardless, the President is our nation’s chief diplomat and he has the backing of the only Constitutional officer in Congress. It seems to me that, therefore, the State Department and White House staff should stop publicly trying to walk back the message. Biden is clearly trying to convey resolve. It makes no sense to water it down.
