[ad_1]
last thursday that same day, 60 Minutes spoke with President Joe Biden, Vladimir Putin met with the leader of China Xi Jinping. There are fears that Russia’s war in Ukraine could inspire China to attack the island of Taiwan. US policy since 1979 has been to recognize Taiwan as part of China but remain silent on whether the US military would protect a democratic government there. 60 Minutes’ Scott Pelley asked Mr. Biden about it.
“What does Chinese President Xi need to know about your commitment to Taiwan?” Peli asked the president.
“We agree with what we signed a long time ago,” the president said. “And that there is one China policy, and Taiwan makes its own judgments about its independence. We don’t move – we don’t encourage them to be independent. We’re not – it’s – it’s their decision.’
“But would American forces defend the island?” Pelley asked.
“Yes, if in fact there was an unprecedented attack,” Mr. Biden said.
“So unlike Ukraine, to be clear, sir,” Pelley said, “American forces, American men and women would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion?”
“Yes,” said the president.
After the interview, a White House official said that US policy towards Taiwan had not changed. Officially, the US maintains “strategic ambiguity” about whether US forces will defend Taiwan, but the Taiwan Relations Act obliges the US to help equip Taiwan to defend itself.
That happened earlier this month when the State Department announced the sale of $1.1 billion worth of military equipment to the island democracy.
“This package has been in the works for some time, precisely because we expected it would be needed as China increased its pressure on Taiwan,” State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said of the sale at a Sept. 6 press briefing. “We are and will continue to be responsible, stable and resolute and keep our lines of communication open with Beijing, but we will also continue to support Taiwan in a consistent manner — in ways that are consistent with our policy.”
In a series of tweets, Chinese embassy spokesman Liu Pengyu said the deal “sends wrong signals to separatist forces about ‘Taiwan independence'” and seriously threatens China-US relations and peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. China strongly opposes this.”
[ad_2]
Source link