During a news conference, President Biden said the U.S. will send its military to defend Taiwan if the People’s Republic of China invades.
“Very quickly, you didn’t want to get involved in the Ukraine conflict militarily for obvious reasons. Are you willing to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan if it comes to that?” a reporter asked the president during the conference in Japan.
“Yes,” Biden responded.
“You are?” the reporter asked.
“That’s the commitment we made,” Biden said.
“We agree with the One China policy, we signed onto it and all the attendant agreements made from there,” he added.
“But the idea that — that it can be taken by force, just taken by force, is just not — it’s just not appropriate. It will dislocate the entire region and be another action similar to what happened in Ukraine,” Biden continued.
As part of the “One China policy,” the U.S. acknowledges, but does not endorse, Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is part of China.
White House officials later said that Biden simply meant the U.S. would provide military equipment to Taiwan if China were to invade.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin responded, saying “China has no room for compromise or concessions on issues involving China’s core interests such as sovereignty and territorial integrity”.
Biden also said last October that the U.S. would defend Taiwan if China attacks.