Joe Biden causes mass confusion by saying that America would defend Taiwan if China invades.

 

Joe Biden at the CNN Townhall. Reuters.

The White House walked back claims by Joe Biden saying that America would defend Taiwan if China invades, causing major confusion. Reuters. Biden was asked at a CNN Townhall if he was going to defend Taiwan if China invaded and said that America was obligated to do so. That would have been a major departure from America's strategic ambiguity on that question, while we are obligated to provide for Taiwan's defense, we have never said one way or the other if we would actively defend Taiwan. White House officials said that Biden had misspoke and that there was no change to our Taiwan policy. China considers Taiwan to be a rouge province and condemned Biden's remarks.

My Comment:

Yet another major gaffe from the Biden White House and one that could have serious diplomatic consequences. I don't think that Biden meant to say this and if he had been properly prepared for this question he would have answered it differently. But he wasn't and he didn't and now we have a major mess on our hands. 

I think it's another example of Joe Biden's obvious decline. Though he has always had major gaffes before he hasn't been one to make international incidents, like this time. I can't see Vice President Biden making this same mistake, though I can see him doing a lot of dumb stuff, this isn't an example of that. Biden was not prepared for this question and he flubbed it because he isn't all there anymore. That's a huge problem and one that needs to be solved. 

Despite the White House pleas and corrections that this isn't actual US policy I wonder if Biden accidently told the truth about his plans concerning Taiwan. I wrote earlier about how we now have troops in Taiwan and that tells me that we probably are committed to defending Taiwan. 

I think there are good strategic reasons for doing so. Countering China's expansionism is one of them, and containing them is a good idea as well. Taiwan is also a major exporter of critical supplies, including computer chips, so it makes sense to keep that industry safe. Plus they import a lot of food and goods from the United States, they are a major trade partner. 

But I do fear that we might not win a war against China over Taiwan. I don't think their invasion will go well with the forces they have and they may even lose entirely, but I fear that they will not only cripple the US Navy in the meantime, but also collapse the world economy. If we win it will be a win that will massively damage the United States at a time we are already extremely vulnerable. We might take China with us but at that point does it matter? 

I also don't think that going to war with China was on the ballot in 2020. Of course elections don't appear to matter anymore but if Biden had made going to war with China on Taiwan's behalf I don't think he would have gotten the number of legitimate votes he did. I don't think there is any apatite for war in this country as we are still recovering from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And I doubt there are many people that think Biden will be a good wartime leader. 

Either way, this was a major unforced error by the Biden White House. I tend to say that a lot but it's true, Biden has not been doing well at all in foreign policy. That was fairly shocking for me as I thought at the very least we would have status quo ante with Biden, who had quite a bit of foreign policy experience, but he has failed dramatically more than I expected.