Biden Reset U.S. Policy on Defending Taiwan by Marc A. Thiessen

Political Crossfire Biden Reset U.S. Policy on Defending Taiwan, Whether Aides Like It or Not

By Marc A. Thiessen

The debate is settled. It is the policy of the United States that the U.S. military would defend Taiwan if it were attacked by Communist China. The policy of “strategic ambiguity” is dead – no matter what a bunch of unelected White House aides say.

Thus says the president of the United States. In an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes” aired last Sunday, correspondent Scott Pelley asked Biden, “Would U.S. forces defend the island” of Taiwan? Biden answered unequivocally: “Yes, if, in fact, there was an unprecedented attack.” Pelley asked again: “So unlike Ukraine, to be clear, sir, U.S. forces, U.S. men and women, would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion?” Biden answered: “Yes.”

He could not have been any clearer – no hesitation, no caveats, no ambiguity. But, CBS reports, “After our interview, a White House official told us U.S. policy has not changed. Officially, the U.S. will not say whether American forces would defend Taiwan. But the commander-in-chief had a view of his own.”

I’m sorry, but the commander-in-chief does not have a “view of his own” that is distinct from U.S. policy. When he speaks, what he says is U.S. policy. Period. Full stop. The president sets our foreign policy – not unnamed, unelected aides. And Biden has said, in no uncertain terms, that U.S. military forces will defend Taiwan if it is attacked.

He has said it not once, not twice, not three times – but four times in the past year. In August 2021, Biden told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, “We made a sacred commitment to Article 5 that if, in fact, anyone were to invade or take action against our NATO allies, we would respond. Same with Japan, same with South Korea, same with Taiwan.” The next day, a “senior Biden administration official” insisted to reporters that U.S. “policy with regard to Taiwan has not changed.”

Then in October, Biden said it again – even more emphatically. During a CNN town hall, when a voter asked, “Can you vow to protect Taiwan?” Biden answered, “Yes.” Host Anderson Cooper asked him to clarify: “Are you saying that the United States would come to Taiwan’s defense….” Biden interrupted Cooper midsentence and said, “Yes.” Cooper continued: “…if China attacked?” Biden repeated again: “Yes, we have a commitment to do that.” So, this time he said it three times in less than a minute. But the next day, his White House minders again insisted that Biden had not, in fact, said what he plainly had said.

Then, in May, at a Tokyo news conference, Biden was asked: “You didn’t want to get involved in the Ukraine conflict militarily for obvious reasons. Are you willing to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan, if it comes to that?” Biden replied: “Yes.” The reporter asked again: “You are?” Biden was unequivocal: “That’s the commitment we made,” adding, “The idea that [Taiwan] can be taken by force, just taken by force, is just not appropriate.” But his national security team contradicted him again, insisting that “the president was clear on the fact that the policy has not changed.”

Now, Biden has said it a fourth time. It is clear he means it. At some point, we have to decide who is running the country – the president or his advisers? The fact is that Biden has made a clear, unequivocal commitment to defend Taiwan – and it is one of the best things he has done as president.

During the Cold War, Article 5 of the NATO Charter – declaring that an attack on one ally is an attack on all – was a source of stability in Europe, because the Soviet Union knew that any act of aggression against a NATO ally would result in a U.S. response. Our commitment to defend NATO allies is the reason Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine but not Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, or Poland. Similarly, removing any ambiguity over whether the United States will defend Taiwan will have a stabilizing effect in the Pacific – sending Chinese dictator Xi Jinping a clear message of deterrence.

The failure of Biden’s advisers to fall in line behind the commander-in-chief borders on insubordination. They keep telling him it’s not U.S. policy to defend Taiwan, and he keeps saying it is. Maybe they think he forgot? Or that he’s confused? During the CBS interview, Pelley asked, “Mr. President, you are the oldest president ever…. Some people ask whether you are fit for the job.” Biden replied: “Watch me.”

He probably should have said, “Listen to me” – because that is what his own advisers refuse to do. The president keeps saying that Republicans represent a threat to the “very foundations of our republic” because they refuse to “recognize the will of the people.” In fact, the threat from those who refuse to recognize the will of the people comes from within. Biden won 306 electoral votes. His aides got zero. That means when he speaks definitively – four times – on a matter of U.S. policy, that is the new policy of our nation, and his advisers need to salute and carry out his orders.