Washington, Aug. 19 (CNA) The U.S. State Department has reaffirmed its “abiding” commitment to Taiwan, amid concerns that its withdrawal from Afghanistan, which led to the country’s takeover by the Taliban, had damaged Washington’s credibility overseas.
At a press briefing Thursday hosted by State Department spokesman Ned Price, CNA’s Washington correspondent noted that the events in Afghanistan have led some U.S. allies to question whether Washington would come to their defense in the event of a crisis.
Given those concerns, she asked whether the U.S. was willing to clarify its commitment to Taiwan by abandoning its decades-long policy of”strategic ambiguity”?
While Price did not provide an affirmative answer, he said that the United States has “an abiding interest in peace and security across the Taiwan Strait.”
“We consider this central to the security and stability of the broader region, of the broader Indo-Pacific,” he said. “Events elsewhere in the world, whether that’s in Afghanistan or any other region, are not going to change that.”
On Wednesday, U.S. President Joe Biden drew attention when he appeared to deviate from the strategic ambiguity policy Washington has adopted for decades by suggesting that the U.S. would “respond” in the event of an attack on Taiwan.
In an interview with ABC News network, host George Stephanopoulos said that China had already seized on the pullout from Afghanistan as an opportunity to convince Taiwan that “you can’t count on the Americans.”
“Why wouldn’t China say that?” Biden responded, before arguing that there was a “fundamental difference” between the situation in Afghanistan and the United States’ commitment to entities like Taiwan, South Korea and NATO.
“We have made – kept every commitment. We made a sacred commitment to Article 5 (of the NATO charter) that if in fact anyone were to invade or take action against our NATO allies, we respond,” Biden said.
“Same with Japan, same with South Korea, same with Taiwan. It’s not even comparable to talk about that,” he added.
Media reports later questioned whether this might have been a slip of tongue, given that the U.S. has explicit defense agreements with South Korea and NATO, but not with Taiwan.
A senior administration official clarified to CNA on Thursday that the United States’ policy with regard to Taiwan has not changed.
“The U.S. defense relationship with Taiwan is guided by the Taiwan Relations Act, as it has been for the past 40 years, and is based on an assessment of Taiwan’s defense needs and the threat posed by the PRC,” the official said.
Meanwhile, Taiwan’s Presidential Office on Friday thanked Biden for using concrete actions — including his administration’s first arms sale to Taiwan earlier this month — to show that Washington’s commitment remains “rock-solid.
President Tsai Ing-wen’s (???) has emphasized that Taiwan’s “only choice” is to demonstrate its resolve in matters of self-defense, presidential spokesperson Xavier Chang (???) said in the statement.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel