Biden: US would intervene with military to defend Taiwan

[Eugene]

Last edited Mon May 23, 2022, 03:08 PM - Edit history (1)

Source: Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — President Joe Biden said Monday the U.S. would intervene militarily if China were to invade Taiwan, declaring the commitment to protect the island is “even stronger” after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It was one of the most forceful presidential statements in support of Taiwan’s 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 U.S. traditionally has avoided making such an explicit security guarantee to Taiwan, with which it no longer has a mutual defense treaty, instead maintaining a policy of “strategic ambiguity” about how far it would be willing to go. The 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, which has governed U.S. relations with the island, does not require the U.S. to step in militarily 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 by Beijing.

A White House official said Biden’s comments did not reflect a policy shift for the United States, a point echoed more firmly by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, asked by reporters if Biden’s answer indicated the U.S. would do more to help Taiwan than it has done to help Ukraine and whether the U.S. was making a commitment to send troops to help Taiwan in the event of an invasion.

-snip-

By JOSH BOAK, AAMER MADHANI and ZEKE MILLER
43 minutes ago


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-biden-taiwan-china-4fb0ad0567ed5bbe46c01dd758e6c62b

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EDIT: story updated at original AP link, with Taiwan content moved down. Using new page.

[Polybius]

1. Good

Taiwan needs to be defended if attacked.

[myohmy2]

2. I'm no expert...

...but isn't that like Mexico saying Texas should be defended if attacked by Washington?

...I think this may needlessly ruffle Beijing's feathers...

...do we really need to do that right now?

...

[oldsoftie]

7. Texas & Washington are the same country; Taiwan is independent regardless of semantics.

An attack by Washington would be handled internally by the US.
We support Ukraine after being invaded by Russia.

[Javaman]

8. given your analogy...are you saying that Taiwan is part of china? nt

[IronLionZion]

12. Republicans have made that argument with Russia and Ukraine

since back in the day they were the same country. Taiwan has been independent since the 1940s.

Do you think the UK should take the US back?

[Ferrets are Cool]

3. Wow, that was strong rhetoric. I would rather wrestle Russia 10 times over than

poke THAT bear.

[PatSeg]

9. China's economy relies heavily

on the U.S. to buy their goods. It would not serve them well to make an enemy of us. China is very pragmatic and transactional. I don't see them cutting off their nose to spite their face, especially over one island.

[Ferrets are Cool]

10. You may disagree, but I think you greatly undervalue their will to control

that "one island". Yes, they rely on us to buy those good, but WE will shrivel up and die if we do NOT have those good to buy.
We decided long ago that cheap labor was more important than paying good wages to our own residents.
Not only this, but we China owns a TON of our debt.
Japan commands the top spot among foreign creditors with $1.3 trillion—4.3% of total U.S. debt—owed by the U.S. government. China holds the number two position, holding $1.06 trillion of U.S. Treasurys—3.5% of the total U.S. debt.

[PatSeg]

14. Good points

I suppose I may never understand China's need to control Taiwan and how far they will go to accomplish that. Of course, they have had the military strength to do so for a long time, so they must be concerned about their relationships with other countries. Our economies are all interconnected in unprecedented ways in the 21st century.

[867-5309.]

18. Taiwan is incredibly important, not just "one island"

They dominate the world semiconductor market and the location is a crucial linchpin in countering China's navy in the region.

[PatSeg]

21. Thanks, I didn't realize that

[867-5309.]

31. No problem!

[catsudon]

17. china ....

China’s military can’t even win border skirmishes with India. It’s a joke.

don't worry, the White House will walk back his comments like last time.

[Chainfire]

4. I just wonder how we would go about that.

There is 1600 miles of wet between California and China. You reckon that they would see us coming?

[catsudon]

20. last time i checked

we have a large fleet in that area. the benefit of being close watched by the five eyes nations.

[David__77]

5. I strongly disagree with that intention and that statement.

Even if one thought that it is as the intention is to create as much destabilization globally as possible.

[stopdiggin]

6. utter BS.

love Joe Biden - but he's seriously talking out of his ass here. It's political - and perhaps strategic and statesmanship - but it ain't true.

[Politicub]

11. Wtf? This was shocking news to see this morning.

I don’t understand why President Biden would just throw something out there like that — something so consequential to the global order — as a response to a question from a reporter.

[Lancero]

13. Kind of a slap to the face for our NATO allies.

We're doing all we can to not send troops in when a foreign power is launching a invasion right at their doorstep, but we can totally send out our military in when someone else invade a country we don't officially recognize.

I'd LOVE to see how we can justify that. Officially, Taiwan is part of China. Good luck selling military intervention because a country somehow invaded itself to the public.

Seriously, we need some consistency here. If we're going to say we'll intervene to defend them, then we should be officially recognizing Taiwan as a country and abandoning the "One China" policy all together.

Fucking hell, NATO nothing. What about South Korea? We're willing to go out to war for a country that, officially, doesn't exist... But we're not willing to go to bat for them, to reunify their country? Even when they're still under a technical state of war? (Although, I suppose that we'd be going to bat for SK since, well, China would be hitting our military bases. Might as well open up a secondary front from that side.)

We've got enough problems with Russia knocking on NATOs doorstep. The last thing we need is for our government to start beating the war drums against China.

[867-5309.]

16. Are NATO allies asking us to become involved militarily?

I think they're on board with us.

[stopdiggin]

33. quite right. a complete and total misreading of the situation

and the relationship. If direct military intervention was desired (which it at no time was - or even seriously discussed) then there is lots of NATO membership available right in that neighborhood, to carry the old pigskin so to speak.

[stopdiggin]

34. so .. advocating that we reopen the Korean conflict?

Damn! not sure I (or a lot of others, including the S.Koreans) can get on board with that.

Maybe we should just leave it at 'foreign policy is not always neat and tidy, or 100 percent consistent.' And that's just kind of the nature of the beast. What we heard the other day was a piece of political jargon, and that's about the sum total of it. (and dearly hope that the Chinese saw it in the same light) Now it's time for the diplomats and statesman get back to work ... And this would be a real great time for everyone to keep their powder dry!

"And that would include you, Mr. Kim Jong-un - no need to get twitchy .. ! "

[OneCrazyDiamond]

15. If it comes about...

WWIII will be vast and brutal.

[867-5309.]

19. This feels like the "Putin must go" comment

Joe is a straight talker who sometimes doesn't employ the diplomatic filter. This is a misstep, imo.

[TeamProg]

26. I disagree. This is not a misstep. Better to show our part of our hand and let China make the

bet if they're comfortable invading Taiwan who will then transtion to guerrilla warfare much like Ukraine did except now with the full readyness and participation of the U.S.


We can't let China control the seas ( South China Sea) between and around Taiwan which China would then claim as theirs.

Japan would be severely threatened as would other nations as China would continue to invade neighboring nations.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I found this::

https://www.cfr.org/blog/united-states-and-japan-should-prepare-chinese-aggression-against-taiwan


A successful Chinese annexation of Taiwan would also undermine Japan’s economic security. Taiwan is Japan’s fourth-largest export market, and should China control Taiwan, it would be able to curtail Japan’s access to that market. Over 40 percent of Japan’s maritime trade passes through the South China Sea; with control over Taiwan and its military installations throughout the South China Sea, China would be in a position to force shipping bound for Japan to take more inefficient routes, hurting Japan’s economy. In addition, China would presumably gain control of Pratas Island (currently administered by Taiwan), a strategic island adjacent to the entrance to the South China Sea from the Philippine Sea, further cementing its hold on this critical maritime artery. Finally, given Taiwan’s proximity to the approaches to Japan’s ports, during wartime China could threaten Japan’s import-dependent economy.


Faced with this potentially dire scenario, Japanese leaders have begun to link Taiwan’s security with Japan’s, which would enable the country to play a role in Taiwan’s defense. This past June, Japan’s defense minister stated “the peace and stability of Taiwan is directly connected to Japan.” One month later, Japan’s deputy prime minister argued that “if a major problem took place in Taiwan, it would not be too much to say that it could relate to a survival-threatening situation.” Such assessments would enable Japan to respond to a Chinese attack on Taiwan under the auspices of exercising collective self-defense.

Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida has not gone this far but has argued that “the front line of the clash between authoritarianism and democracy is Asia, and particularly Taiwan,” and that Japan “cannot respond except by cooperating with our ally, the United States.” Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has gone the furthest to date, declaring in November, “A Taiwan emergency is a Japanese emergency, and therefore an emergency for the Japan-U.S. alliance. People in Beijing, President Xi Jinping in particular, should never have a misunderstanding in recognizing this.”
""""

[867-5309.]

29. But it was immediately walked back

which was certain to happen.

[TeamProg]

30. Where? Please link.

No walk back to be found here:

https://www.google.com/search?q=Biden%3A+US+would+intervene+militarily+if+China+invades+Taiwan++walk+back&client=firefox-b-1-d&ei=qr2LYtWoMpOdkPIPsrCFiAs&ved=0ahUKEwjVpd-2jPb3AhWTDkQIHTJYAbEQ4dUDCA0&oq=Biden%3A+US+would+intervene+militarily+if+China+invades+Taiwan++walk+back&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAxKBAhBGABKBAhGGABQAFgAYABoAHABeACAAQCIAQCSAQCYAQA&sclient=gws-wiz

[JohnSJ]

22. That has been walked back since as reported on Bloomberg, where it was clarified to mean supply

military equipment, not direct US intervention

[TeamProg]

23. Hear! Hear! China would just keep going into other nations as well. n/t

[olddad65]

24. Open mouth, insert foot.

[Justice matters.]

25. For those who don't know the major reason why.

Will China Invade Taiwan Next?

(Will not happen.)

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=China+Taiwan+history

[geardaddy]

39. A good overview, but there are several

sticking points that aren't quite correct. Ukraine is not a "de-facto" independent nation. It is a fully sovereign nation. Yes, it was once a part of the Soviet Union.

Second, Japan never "conquered" Taiwan. Taiwan was ceded to Japan after Imperial China lost the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895.

[The Mouth]

27. Good

China is our existential enemy.

[rockfordfile]

32. I agree and so is Russia.

[ripcord]

28. I don't see how anyone can be surprised by this

It has been U.S. policy for decades.

[stopdiggin]

35. true. but it's also 100% clear that the U.S. has been 'hedging'

and waffling around on that position for a number of decades as well.

Joe didn't waffle (but, in the larger scheme of things - maybe he should have)
And, yes - quite well aware that he will gain accolades in some quarters for the same action. That's fair. Just my personal opinion that our diplomacy didn't need any provocation at this point in time.
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[NickB79]

36. How many aircraft carriers are we prepared to lose?

Because we'd definitely be losing Naval assets, and a nuclear-powered super carrier would be Target #1. Not saying we shouldn't defend Taiwan, but be prepared for a brutal exchange, up to and including US Navy vessels hitting the Pacific seabed.

And yes, the Chinese have the capability to defeat our defenses AND hull our biggest ships if we sail them into range to launch fighters.

[geardaddy]

37. We've already sent the US Navy up the Taiwan Strait

in the past when the PRC was threatening the ROC (Taiwan) when the PRC was having war games in the area. It happened during Clinton's administration. He sent a couple of aircraft carriers through the Taiwan Strait to show that we still have a tacit deal to aid Taiwan in a conflict.

Since the Carter Administration, we have been continually selling arms to Taiwan, as well, to help them defend themselves.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_US_arms_sales_to_Taiwan

So, this is nothing new.

On edit: We even just this year sent a US Navy ship through the Taiwan Strait:

On 26 February 2022, China denounced the sailing of the U.S. Navy's 7th Fleet Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Ralph Johnson through the Taiwan Strait as a 'provocative act'."[11]

[geardaddy]

38. The US Navy regularly sails through the Taiwan Strait

And the PRC always calls it "provocative"

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/us-warship-transits-sensitive-taiwan-strait-2022-02-26/