COMMENTARY / World

Biden's diplomatic brinkmanship on Taiwan's 'strategic ambiguity'

There is no doubt the U.S. president's remarks were deliberate, and not a gaffe as some have suggested

Comments made by U.S. President Joe Biden in Tokyo this week that he is willing to use the U.S. militarily to defend Taiwan if attacked by China were received with a mixture of approval and consternation among Japanese officials. | BLOOMBERG

By Kuni Miyake
Contributing writer

May 28, 2022

Amid the international upheaval over the Russian invasion of Ukraine, U.S. President Joe Biden reassured America’s allies and friends in the Indo-Pacific that its priorities and foreign policy remain unchanged.

That said, while basically trying to maintain “strategic ambiguity” over a Taiwan contingency, Biden made remarks that rendered the policy a little less ambiguous and which did not go over as well as he may have hoped.

When asked if he was willing to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan at Monday's joint news conference in Tokyo, Biden said, “Yes. That’s the commitment we made.” He added: “The idea that it can be taken by force is just not appropriate. It will dislocate the entire region and be another action similar to what happened in Ukraine. And so, it’s a burden that is even stronger.”