(JustPatriots.com)- In an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes” on Sunday night, President Joe Biden stated that American forces would deploy to defend Taiwan in the event of an “unprecedented attack.”
According to CBS, Biden’s remarks appear to depart from decades of U.S. policy to avoid fully assuring Taiwan’s defense and are the most direct indication from the country of the possibility of military intervention in the event of a Chinese invasion.
Would the American military protect the island? Scott Pelley, a CBS News correspondent, questioned the president.
Biden replied, “Yes if there really was an extraordinary attack.”
The State Department later told “60 Minutes” that American policy toward Taiwan hasn’t changed, although CBS News didn’t say whether it claimed that Biden’s comments matched current American policy.
Biden told CBS News that the U.S. agrees with what we signed long ago. He said there is a one-China policy, and Taiwan determines its level of independence. Biden said we aren’t doing anything and don’t promote their independence.
Through the Taiwan Relations Act, three Joint Communiqués, and Six Assurances in the 1970s and early 1980s, the U.S. and China committed to the “one China policy,” reaffirming Taiwan as a self-governing island still a part of China.
Although the United States and Taiwan do not have formal diplomatic relations, they have a separate trading connections. The U.S. has promised to give Taiwan the defense equipment it needs and the training it needs to help Taiwan defend itself against a potential Chinese invasion.
According to CBS News, the U.S. maintains a long-standing policy of “strategic ambiguity” to prevent China from knowing whether or not it will send soldiers to help Taiwan repel the Chinese army.
According to NPR, Biden has hinted at least three times that the U.S. military might be involved if China tried to reclaim the island.
According to CNN, Biden declared in May 2022 that the United States would use military force to intervene if China tried to annex Taiwan to the mainland.
Biden “reiterated that our commitment to peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and our ‘one China policy, of course, continue. Under the Taiwan Relations Act, he also reaffirmed our commitment to arming Taiwan with the capabilities to defend itself, according to State Department spokesman Ned Price.
In essence, he said, “nothing has changed. Despite inquiries from reporters, he did not specifically say if a pledge to defend Taiwan with U.S. soldiers would amount to a change in policy.
