Washington: US President Joe Biden said in an interview broadcast on Sunday that US forces would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion.

Asked in a CBS 60 Minutes interview if US forces would defend the self-ruled island claimed by China, he replied: “Yes, if in fact, there was an unprecedented attack.”

Asked to clarify if he meant that unlike in Ukraine US forces, men and women, would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion, Biden replied: “Yes.”

Since taking office, Biden has repeatedly used language about Taiwan that appears to change longstanding US policy.

Last year, Biden or his aides needed to clarify his remarks on Taiwan on at least four separate occasions, including his description of the island as “independent” – China’s oft-stated red line for an invasion.

Biden has asserted a willingness to defend Taiwan as recently as May, when he said the US military would intervene in any attack from China, despite that not being official US policy.

“We agree with the One-China policy, we signed onto it and all the attendant agreements made from there,” Biden said in May in Japan.

“But the idea that it could be taken by force, just taken by force, is just not – it’s just not appropriate. It will dislocate the entire region and be another action similar to what happened in Ukraine.”

More to come

Reuters, Reuters

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