1 month ago. Taipei, Taiwan

Taiwan looms large over Quad summit, raises US-China tensions

US President Joe Biden said if China attacks Taiwan, US would take military action
China said it will take firm action to safeguard its sovereignty
Political observers say Biden’s remarks served to escalate tensions

The Russian invasion of Ukraine following a “no limits” deal between Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping had rendered Taiwan, the world’s semiconductor hub, jittery. Now, with US President Joe Biden saying that the United States will intervene militarily if China attacks Taiwan, tensions between two of the world’s biggest economies are on the rise.

Biden’s statement Monday, political observers believe, may pave way for conflict on the Taiwan Strait instead of deterring Beijing. While Biden, in his statement, maintained that the US continues in its policy of “strategic ambiguity” and reiterated his commitment to the One China policy, China saw the US president’s remark as a threat.

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Reacting to Biden’s statement, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said China “will take firm actions to safeguard its sovereignty and security interests.” For China, Taiwan is integral to its vision of an integrated Chinese state. The Chinese Communist Party, and its current leader Xi Jinping, considers reunification with Taiwan one of its historical goals.

As such, Biden’s remarks about defending Taiwan seem to have angered Beijing to a level where Taiwan only has more reason to feel threatened. Winston Lord, a former US Ambassador to China, told POLITICO, that Biden’s remarks were “his gut instinct reflected in mindless wording.”

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“…if Biden keeps doing this, it could be a ‘big deal’ indeed,” said Lord, adding, “We should maintain strategic ambiguity. We can deter Chinese attacks on Taiwan without destroying our ambiguous one-China policy, which has been a core of our relation with Beijing for a half century.”

Meanwhile, Bonnie Glaser, Asia Program Director at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, said, “It’s simply not correct to say that we have a commitment to come to Taiwan’s defense…the fact that [Biden] keeps misstating the policy ends up undermining deterrence.”

Taiwan’s relationship with the United States is governed by the US-China Three Communiques, the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act and the 1982 Six Assurances. The Taiwan Relations Act commits that the United States maintains capacity to take military action in the event of use of force or other forms of coercion that would jeopardise the security, or the social or economic system.

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Taiwan looms large over Quad summit, raises US-China tensions

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