TOKYO (Dispatches) -- President Biden on Monday signaled a more confrontational approach to China on multiple fronts, issuing a sharp warning against any potential use of force against Taiwan at the same time his administration is embroiled in a proxy war against another superpower, Russia.
Speaking to reporters during his first trip to Asia as president, Biden said the United States would defend Taiwan militarily if it came under attack by China — despite the U.S. policy of remaining vague on the subject — and that deterring Beijing in Taiwan and elsewhere was among the reasons it was critical to punish Russian President Vladimir Putin for his “barbarism in Ukraine.”
Asked if the United States would aid Taiwan military if it is attacked by China, Biden said, “Yes, that’s the commitment we made.”
He added: “We agree with the ‘One China’ policy ... but the idea that it can be taken by force, just taken by force, is just not appropriate. It would dislocate the entire region and be another action similar to what happened in Ukraine. And so it’s a burden that’s even stronger.”
Beijing said it was ready to defend its national interests over Taiwan. Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters that “Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory”.
“The Taiwan issue is a purely internal affair for China,” he said. “On issues touching on China’s core interests of sovereignty and territorial integrity, China has no room for compromise or concession.”
Wang said China would always defend its interests with the force of its 1.4 billion population.
“No one should underestimate the firm resolve, staunch will and strong ability of the Chinese people in defending national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he added.
The United States has long maintained a policy of strategic ambiguity toward Taiwan, meaning it is deliberately unclear what it will do if it comes to defending Taiwan. The “One China” policy is a long-standing
bit of diplomatic legerdemain under which the U.S. recognizes China’s position that there is only one Chinese government, but does not accept Beijing’s view that Taiwan is under its rightful control.
A White House official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to clarify Biden’s comments, said the U.S. stance has not changed.
“Russia has to pay a long-term price for that in terms of the sanctions that have been imposed,” Biden said during a news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at Akasaka Palace. “If in fact there’s a rapprochement met between … the Ukrainians and Russia, and these sanctions are not continued to be sustained in many ways, then what signal does that send to China about the cost of attempting to take Taiwan by force?”
The Biden administration later announced the outlines of a new trade framework that is meant to strengthen U.S. economic ties with Indo-Pacific nations other than China, and on Tuesday Biden will participate in a summit of the Quad, the partnership made up of the United States, India, Japan and Australia that is meant in part to counter China’s power globally.
Taken together, Monday’s rhetoric and accompanying events underscored the administration’s aggressive strategy toward Beijing’s rising influence. Though the president said he did not expect China to invade Taiwan, Biden said that China was “already flirting with danger.”
At Monday’s summit, Biden and Kishida also reinforced their commitment to the alliance and their cooperation on responding to the Russian war.
The world’s third-largest economy, Japan has taken uncharacteristically swift steps to join Western allies in financially pressuring Russia and aiding Ukraine. Last week, Tokyo committed an additional $300 million in short-term support to Ukraine, on top of the more than $200 million it had already pledged.
Part of the U.S.-Japanese response to China’s rise is the launch of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, the contours of a new agreement that is designed to be a bulwark against China. The administration says it improves on the political and substantive shortcomings of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, negotiated during the Obama administration when Biden was vice president.
The dozen countries in the new pact with the United States are Australia, Brunei, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The countries account for 40 percent of global gross domestic product, according to the administration.
But many officials throughout Asia, including in Japan, are wary of the U.S. rollout of its new economic proposal. Japanese officials have said they are relieved to see the United States reassert itself economically in the Indo-Pacific region but remain frustrated about President Donald Trump’s 2017 pullout from the Trans-Pacific Partnership.