US president Joe Biden said that the US will get militarily involved to defend Taiwan if China attempts to ‘reunify’ Taiwan by force. Biden said that it was a commitment that the US made earlier. The US president’s comments came when he was speaking to reporters in Japan after the bilateral summit with Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida.
“That’s the commitment we made,” Biden was quoted as saying by The Wall Street Journal.
Biden stressed that the US is committed to the ‘One China Policy’, which recognizes the People’s Republic of China as the only legitimate government of China and ‘acknowledges’ Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is a part of China but does not ‘endorse’ it.
Biden said that policy does not allow China to forcefully take over Taiwan by invading it.
“We agree with the One China policy and all the attendant agreements we made. But the idea that it can be taken by force, just taken by force, would just not be appropriate,” Biden said. Biden also drew similarities to Russia’ so-called military operation in Ukraine claiming that China forcefully taking Taiwan would be similar to what is going on in Ukraine.
Biden soon downplayed the possibility that China will try to take Taiwan saying that he expects that such an incident will not happen. He asked world leaders to send a strong message to Beijing that there will be consequences if China behaves recklessly.
The US under the Taiwan Relations Act can provide Taiwan with the military means to defend itself. China has warned the US against ramping up anti-China rhetoric. Yang Jiechi, Beijing’s top diplomat, warned US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan that the US should stop playing the China card if it does not want a dangerous situation to evolve.
Biden and Kishida after the summit said that both nations are fully committed to upgrading Japan’s defense. Also, Joe Biden extended his support to Japan in its bid to become a permanent member of a reformed United Nations Security Council.
Kishida hosted Biden in the Akasaka Palace in Tokyo, who was accompanied by US secretary of state Antony Blinken, trade representative Katherine Tai, US envoy to Japan Rahm Emanuel and national security adviser Jake Sullivan along with other bureaucrats.
