Biden’s vow to protect Taiwan, walked back by White House, could be sign of internal policy debate experts sayPresident Biden’s statement last week, later walked back by the White House, that the U.S would protect Taiwan in the case of an attack by Beijing, could be a window into an ongoing policy debate about the Biden administration’s strategy in the region, experts told Fox News.
"China, Russia, and the rest of the world knows we have the most powerful military in the history of the world. Don't worry about whether we're going to – they're going to be more powerful," Biden said in the CNN town hall. "What you do have to worry about is whether or not they're going to engage in activities that will put them in a position where they may make a serious mistake."
Further pushed about whether the United States would defend Taiwan from a Chinese attack, Biden added: "Yes. Yes, we have a commitment to do that."
The remark quickly made headlines, as the U.S. policy for decades has been one of "strategic ambiguity" toward how it would respond to such an attack. The 1979 Taiwan Relations Act commits the U.S. to support Taiwan, including providing it defensive capabilities, but not necessarily to engage in a military conflict.
"I was surprised when Biden made those comments, I wasn't surprised that the White House walked them back and I don't think the White House walking them back mean that Biden doesn't mean what he said," Isaac Stone Fish, CEO of Strategy Risks, a firm which measures China risk, told Fox News.
"It’s really hard to know, did they walk it back because Biden misspoke, did they walk it back because this was the plan all along, and Biden was maybe saying something that they would counter to make them less harsh?" he said. "Did they walk them back as a reflection of a policy dispute within the White House whereas parts of the State Department want it to be slightly less aggressive than the way Biden frames it? It’s difficult to know what this signals." ....................
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/bidens-vow-to-protect-taiwan-walked-by-white-house-internal-policy-debate-experts
