Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Defending Taiwan — a Biden gaffe?

Joseph Bosco

US President Joe Biden has done it again — for the third time in the past nine months he has stated that the US will defend Taiwan. And for the third time, his administration officials have rushed to “clarify” that US policy toward Taiwan “has not changed” and Washington still follows its “one China policy.”

That is the same scenario that played out with two other presidents. When asked the question posed to Biden in 2001, then-US president George W. Bush said Washington would do “whatever it took” to defend Taiwan against Chinese aggression.

In 2020, then-US president Donald Trump answered the question with a menacing tone conveying clarity and resolve: “China knows what I’m gonna do.”

Quad opposes any ‘change by force’

Taipei Times

From left, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, US President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi wave to the media at Kishida’s office in Tokyo yesterday, before their Quadrilateral Security Dialogue meeting.
Photo: AFP

Leaders of Australia, India, Japan and the US yesterday warned against attempts to “change the status quo by force,” as concerns grow about whether China could invade Taiwan.

The issue of Taiwan loomed over a leadership meeting in Tokyo of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) nations — the US, Japan, Australia and India — who stressed their determination to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific region in the face of an increasingly assertive China, although Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the group was not targeting any one country.

Time for Taiwan’s global inclusion

Ben Goren

Over the past few months, various media outlets, think tanks and lobby groups have published numerous opinion columns and reports about the implications for Taiwan given Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

About a week ago, the Taiwan Policy Centre, a non-partisan research and advocacy group, complemented this coverage with the publication of its launch report, “Ukraine today, Taiwan tomorrow?”

As the center’s director of communications, I have worked with colleagues across party lines to produce a paper that refocuses the conversation around the unique circumstances of the nation’s current security context.

US forces would defend Taiwan: Biden

Taipei Times

President Joe Biden speaks during a news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at Akasaka Palace, Monday, May 23, 2022, in Tokyo.
Photo: AP

US President Joe Biden yesterday vowed that US forces would defend Taiwan militarily in the event of a Chinese attack in his strongest statement to date on the issue.

Beijing is already “flirting with danger,” Biden said following talks with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo, in which the pair agreed to monitor Chinese naval activity and joint Chinese-Russian exercises.

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