As the West spends billions in aid to support Ukraine’s offensive against Russia, concerns are mounting over the looming possibility of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. President Joe Biden said Monday that the United States would intervene militarily if the self-governing island came under attack by the mainland. But is Beijing ready to mount a full-scale takeover of Taiwan – and succeed?
Biden’s unequivocal remark about Taiwan came at a news conference with Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during a visit to Tokyo, as the president responded to a question regarding whether, contrary to his approach to Ukraine, he would use military force to defend Taiwan.
“Yes … that’s the commitment we made,” Biden responded. “The idea that [Taiwan] could be taken by force … would dislocate the entire region and be another action similar to what happened in Ukraine.”
The president’s clear answer departed from the traditional stance of strategic ambiguity: a decades-old US policy of deliberate vagueness regarding the defence of Taiwan in case of Chinese invasion. But as Taiwan has reported a troubling increase in provocative military activity from Beijing, with spikes in Chinese military aircraft overflights in the island’s air defence identification zone, top US and EU officials have openly voiced their support for the democratic island, whose plight has also drawn comparisons to Ukraine.
The White House hurriedly walked back Biden’s statements, denying that the president’s remarks represented any change in policy – but not before they had provoked the ire of Beijing, whose foreign ministry expressed “strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition” within hours.
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