US President Joe Biden’s Taiwan gaffe, a concern for China

Biden replied that the US commitments to Taiwan, South Korea, and NATO were fundamentally different situations than what had happened in Afghanistan. “We made a sacred commitment to NATO treaty Article 5 that if, in fact, anyone were to invade or take action against our NATO allies, we would respond,” Biden said. “Same with Japan, same with South Korea, same with — Taiwan,” Biden said.

A US administration official later clarified, according to Reuters, saying “US policy with regard to Taiwan has not changed.” Analysts said Biden appeared to have “misspoken.”Has Biden now had another slip of the tongue? Asked at a CNN town hall on Thursday whether the United States was willing and able to defend Taiwan in the event of an attack by China, Biden answered: “yes and yes.” “China, Russia, and the rest of the world know we have the most powerful military in the history of the world,” Biden responded. “Don’t worry about whether we’re going to — they’re going to be more powerful. What you do have to worry about is whether or not they’re going to engage in activities that will put them in a position where they may make a serious mistake.” Asked by the moderator if that meant the US would defend Taiwan if China attacked, Biden said: “Yes, we have a commitment to do that.” Another clarification from WH

Once again, a White House spokesman clarified after Biden spoke that there had not been a change in US policy with regard to Taiwan, adding that defense cooperation continues to be conducted under the Taiwan Relations Act, which Congress enacted in 1979 when the United States and the People’s Republic of China established diplomatic relations.

The Taiwan Relations Act led to the severing of official ties and the mutual assistance pact between the United States and Taiwan. The act was intended to reassure the government and the people of Taiwan that the United States would continue to offer support despite the rupture in relations. Specifically, the United States pledged to “make available to Taiwan such defense articles and defense services in such quantity as may be necessary to enable Taiwan to maintain a sufficient self-defense capacity.” According to the act, the United States “shall maintain the capacity to resist any resort to force or other forms of coercion that would jeopardize the security, or social or economic system, of the people of Taiwan.” The open-ended wording of the act is the basis for what observers call the “strategic ambiguity” of the US policy since 1979. Washington has left it open whether the United States would come to Taiwan’s aid with a military intervention, should mainland forces attack.

A formulation like that would be interpreted by China’s government as support for Taiwan’s independence efforts. This is worded quite differently from Article 5 of the NATO treaty. In the event of an attack on a member state, the NATO treaty explicitly provides for assistance from the other members, including the use of armed force.

Despite the US’ continued arms deliveries to Taiwan, the United States and China have pursued closer relations since 1979, especially in the late 1990s under former presidents Bill Clinton and Jiang Zemin. But that is over, Marco Overhauls, of the Berlin-based German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), wrote in an article for the newspaper Die Welt.

“In Washington, the perception has taken hold that the rivalry with China is an epic struggle between the free-market democratic West and state-capitalist authoritarian China,” Overhaus wrote last week.