Biden said the U.S. would defend Taiwan if China invades — but it’s complicated : NPR

President Biden attends a CNN City Hall at the Baltimore Center Stage Pearlstone Theater on October 21. When asked if the US would protect Taiwan if China attacks, he said the US has an “obligation” to do so. Evan Vucci / AP hide caption

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Evan Vucci / AP

President Biden attends a CNN City Hall at the Baltimore Center Stage Pearlstone Theater on October 21. When asked if the US would protect Taiwan if China attacks, he said the US has an “obligation” to do so.

Evan Vucci / AP

This week, Foreign Minister Antony Blinken called on countries to support Taiwan’s participation in the United Nations. The self-governing island has not been a member of the body since October 1971, when the UN gave Beijing a seat at the table and deposed Taiwan.

“Taiwan’s meaningful participation in the UN system is not a political but a pragmatic issue,” said Blinken, citing its democracy, transparency, respect for human rights and the rule of law, and its importance for the global high-tech economy.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian wanted to disagree. He said Blinken’s comments “seriously” violate the agreements that underpin China-US relations as well as America’s own commitments.

The back and forth is the latest in a series of episodes of US-China tension that have put America’s Taiwan policy in the spotlight.

Just last week, during a CNN “town hall”, President Biden touched upon the most sensitive of all related issues and said in no uncertain terms that America would take action if China attacked Taiwan.

Here is the transcript from the White House:

MR. [ANDERSON] COOPER: Are you saying that the United States would provide Taiwan’s defense if–

THE PRESIDENT: Yes.

MR. COOPER: – Attacked China?

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, we are committed to it.

The White House later made it clear, “The President has not announced any change in our policy and there is no change in our policy.”

Then Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen said in a CNN interview on Tuesday that she “believed” that the US would actually defend Taiwan if the Chinese government did something.

So what exactly is US policy towards Taiwan?

The US officially recognizes “one China”

After the Communist Party took power in mainland China after a civil war with its rival Nationalist Party, Washington did not recognize it as the legitimate government of China for 30 years. Instead, the US had an embassy in Taipei, where the remnants of the nationalist-led Republic of China (ROC) settled after fleeing to Taiwan in 1949.

In the 1970s, when the geopolitical wind turned, Washington and Beijing laid the foundation for rapprochement as a counterbalance to the Soviet Union. And in early 1979 the United States gave the communist-ruled People’s Republic of China formal diplomatic recognition and severed ties with Taipei.

Washington thus recognized the PRC as the sole legitimate government of China. It also confirmed Beijing’s position that there is only one China and Taiwan is part of it. But the US has never supported the Communist Party’s claim that the People’s Republic of China has sovereignty over Taiwan. This is known as the “One China Policy”. Beijing regards the island with almost 24 million inhabitants as an idiosyncratic province that should preferably be brought back into one’s lap peacefully; with force, possibly

Carter signed the Taiwan Relations Act

After the US severed formal ties with Taipei, Congress passed and President Jimmy Carter signed a law known as the Taiwan Relations Act. It has since cemented US relations with the island.

The Taiwan Relations Act did two major things.

First, it has enshrined the promotion of robust informal relations with Taiwan as US policy and established a de facto embassy in Taipei called the American Institute in Taiwan.

Second, she stated that diplomatic recognition of Beijing “is based on the expectation that Taiwan’s future will be determined by peaceful means.” Anything else would be of “great concern” to the US. She critically stated, “The United States will provide Taiwan with defense articles and defense services in sufficient quantities to enable Taiwan to maintain adequate self-defense capabilities.” . “

The American Institute in Taiwan building is in Taipei, widely regarded as the de facto embassy in Taiwan. Sam Yeh / AFP via Getty Images Hide caption

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Sam Yeh / AFP via Getty Images

The American Institute in Taiwan building is in Taipei, widely regarded as the de facto embassy in Taiwan.

Sam Yeh / AFP via Getty Images

The US is deliberately keeping its strategy ambiguous

How exactly the US would help Taiwan’s self-defense was not specified in the 1979 legislation. The type and quantity of “defense articles and defense services” remained – intentionally – unspoken. This is the cornerstone of a policy known as “strategic ambiguity”.

The US has sold advanced weapons to Taiwan and helped train its soldiers. But for the last 42 years, successive US administrations have stood by “strategic ambiguity.”

The reason is twofold.

First, the possibility of US intervention was enough to give Chinese military planners a break. Strategic ambiguities have forced Beijing to assume that the US would interfere. Even if the balance of power in the Taiwan Strait shifts in favor of China, experts believe that Taiwan is still years away from a successful conquest of Taiwan.

Second, ambiguity discourages those in Taiwan who may be tempted to declare their independence. Taiwan may be self-governing, but a formal declaration of independence would almost certainly create a crisis. Without assurances of US aid in repelling Chinese troops, the costs are potentially higher.

Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen (left) presents a flag during the commissioning ceremony of a domestically manufactured warship on September 9 at Suao Naval Base in Yilan County, Taiwan. Taiwan’s president oversaw the commissioning of the new ship as part of the island’s plan to increase its defense capabilities amid heightened tensions with China. Chiang Ying-ying / AP Hide caption

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Chiang Ying-Ying / AP

Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen (left) presents a flag during the commissioning ceremony of a domestically manufactured warship on September 9 at Suao Naval Base in Yilan County, Taiwan. Taiwan’s president oversaw the commissioning of the new ship as part of the island’s plan to increase its defense capabilities amid heightened tensions with China.

Chiang Ying-Ying / AP

Biden has vowed to defend Taiwan beforehand

Biden’s comment It wasn’t the first time on CNN that he had taken a confident stance in defense of Taiwan. In August, he told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos that the US had “made a sacred commitment” to defend its NATO allies, and so did Taiwan. Government officials later signaled that America’s Taiwan policy had not changed.

Regarding America’s position on Taiwan’s participation in the United Nations, Blinken stopped her from calling for Taiwan to be re-admitted to the panel. Taiwan has been allowed to participate in UN forums in the past, like the World Health Assembly, often as an observer. But Beijing has prevented such participation in recent years because the current Taiwanese leadership, who come from the traditionally independent Democratic Progressive Party, dislikes it. Blinken said, “Taiwan’s marginalization undermines the vital work of the United Nations and its related bodies.”

At the moment, it seems, the Biden administration is publicly sticking to America’s longstanding “one-China” policy.