NEW YORK — President Joe Biden recommitting the United States to defend Taiwan in case of an attack by China has roiled relations with the Chinese Communist Party, already strained after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) trip to the self-governing island last month.
The controversy is likely to cast a shadow over other topics at this week’s United Nations General Assembly.
BIDEN NAVIGATES UK ‘SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP’ WITH NEW MONARCH AND PRIME MINISTER
Biden reiterated that he is prepared to deploy U.S. forces in defense of Taiwan in a headline-grabbing interview with CBS’s 60 Minutes last weekend, his first sit-down interview since June. Following the interview, though, White House officials told CBS that the president’s comments did not represent a change in U.S. policy, which is to make no guarantees of what Washington would do if China moved on Taiwan. It is just the latest in a series of Biden vowing to defend Taiwan militarily only to have his staff walk it back.
Since establishing normal diplomatic relations with China in the 1970s, the U.S. has avoided an explicit defense commitment to Taiwan while providing assistance to the self-governing island. This has been described as “strategic ambiguity.”
But Biden’s remarks were not a gaffe, according to Center for Strategic and International Studies China Power Project fellow Brian Hart.
Hart, referring to the three previous instances in which Biden had said the U.S. would defend Taiwan before the White House walked back his remarks, contended Biden is underscoring the idea of deterring China while not ending strategic ambiguity.
“An official shift to ‘strategic clarity’ would provoke a strong response from China,” he said of the U.S. saying how it would actually respond to Chinese actions against Taiwan. “Beijing would likely use it as a pretext for stoking a Taiwan Strait crisis to try to further shift the status quo in their favor. I think Biden recognizes that, and he is trying to avoid that while still signaling to Beijing that the United States would respond militarily.”
For American Enterprise Institute nonresident fellow Michael Mazza, what is clear is Biden’s personal opinion regarding China and Taiwan. Mazza supports a shift to strategic clarity, arguing it deters Beijing and reassures Taipei. Mazza said this would allow Taiwan to be more tactical in its defense rather than “spread its money thin to cover a wide range of missions for a wide range of potential contingencies.”
“On the other hand, the president’s rhetoric doesn’t match the administration’s actions,” he said. “The administration talks about Taiwan as if it faces an urgent threat from China, yet it is addressing the challenge without any urgency.”
“A commitment to defend Taiwan should be met with a significant ramp-up in defense spending, especially on naval and air capabilities,” Mazza added. “The mismatch between ends and means may tempt China to act before it is addressed.”
The U.S. did approve a $1.1 billion weapons deal with Taiwan this month, which included 60 anti-ship and 100 air-to-air missiles, and rankled China.
Hart’s concern is that Biden and the White House’s contradictory statements compromise the strategic ambiguity concept of “dual deterrence” — discouraging both China and Taiwan from starting a war. But the CCP already “assumes” the U.S. will defend the island, according to Hart.
“Beijing is seeing these repeated statements from President Biden in conjunction with Speaker Pelosi’s visit to Taipei and the progression of the Taiwan Policy Act through Congress, and it is interpreting them collectively as a hollowing out of U.S. policy on Taiwan,” he said.
Former Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs David Stilwell criticized White House aides for trying to clarify Biden’s statements. Spokespeople have attempted to qualify or revise Biden’s comments in the past, a trend that reportedly upsets the president.
Stilwell said Beijing has violated the letter and the spirit of the Three Communiques, the agreements that required Beijing to address U.S. interests in the resolution of Taiwan’s status.
“We should not be clinging to half an agreement,” the Vandenberg Coalition Advisory Board member added. “If anyone doubts that Beijing does not honor its commitments, they should recall the imposition of the ‘National Security Law’ on Hong Kong in July 2020, crushing Hong Kong autonomy after only 23 years, not the 50 they promised in the Joint Declaration with the U.K.”
Biden articulated “the right thing” since there is “little strategic upside to ambiguity,” according to Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE), who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee.
“Now, anonymous White House staffers are trying — for at least the third time — to walk it back and say there’s been no change to U.S. policy,” he said. “Unacceptable. [White House chief of staff] Ron Klain shouldn’t undermine the president, the Taiwanese people, and U.S. interests and leadership.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Biden is due to speak at the 77th session of the U.N. General Assembly Wednesday — his appearance was delayed a day because of Queen Elizabeth II’s state funeral in London.
