US President Joe Biden has said that if China invades Taiwan, the United States will resist. He made the remarks at a CNN program on Taiwan’s defense on Thursday.
According to a report in the BBC on Friday, a participant in the event asked Biden if he would defend Taiwan and what he would do to keep pace with China’s growing military might. Biden replied, “Yes and yes.” The US president added that there was no need to worry that they would become stronger. Because, “China, Russia and the rest of the world know that our army is the strongest in the history of the world.”
The CNN presenter then asked Biden in the second round whether the United States would step in to protect Taiwan if China attacked. Biden replied, ‘Yes. We have a commitment to do that. ‘
Beijing, meanwhile, has reacted to Biden’s comments. According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, there is no room for compromise on issues of China’s interest.
China considers Taiwan as its territory. But Taiwan has long claimed itself as an independent-sovereign state. Taiwan has been blaming Beijing for the ongoing tensions. China, on the other hand, blames the United States for escalating tensions with Taiwan.
Biden’s statement contradicted a long-running U.S. policy known as “strategic ambiguity.” Under the policy, Washington will help build Taiwan’s defense system, but will not be able to directly promise to defend the island.
Earlier, Biden made a similar promise in an interview with ABC News in August. Despite the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan in the face of the Taliban’s victory, he said the United States would always protect real allies, including Taiwan.
Biden said the United States had made “sacred promises” to protect NATO allies in Canada and Europe. There are similar promises for Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.
However, the White House later told reporters that US policy on Taiwan had not changed.
During a question-and-answer session on CNN’s Town Hall, Biden spoke of his long-standing relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Reiterating his position, Biden said he did not want to start a new Cold War with China. But he warned, “I just want to make it clear to China that we are not going backwards.”
Taipei has repeatedly complained about the intrusion of Chinese warplanes into Taiwan’s airspace. China has already sent a nuclear-capable aircraft into Taiwan’s airspace.
After Biden’s remarks on Taiwan’s defense, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said there was no room for compromise. On Friday, China’s foreign ministry called on the United States to stop sending false signals to Taiwan’s independence supporters.
At a regular news briefing in Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said there was no room for concessions in China’s core interests.
China recently tested a hypersonic missile, the news agency AFP reported. The United States and Russia are rushing to build their own hypersonic weapons. According to AFP, the United States is going to sign up after Russia and China for the capability of hypersonic missiles. The country has demanded successful testing of hypersonic missile technology. The test was conducted at a NASA launch site in the state of Virginia last Wednesday.
The U.S. Navy said in a statement Thursday that it was testing the hypersonic technology. The test is an important step in the development of hypersonic missiles in the design of the Navy, the statement said. Through these experiments, it has been seen what the latest hypersonic technology and capabilities will look like in real life.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon expects to deploy hypersonic missiles by 2025. They said the development of such missiles was being given “top priority”.
Hypersonic missiles are much more advanced than conventional missiles. This missile can run at five times the speed of sound. In addition, the technical capabilities of hypersonic missiles are difficult to detect and detect.
In August this year, China launched a hypersonic missile capable of carrying nuclear weapons, according to the Financial Times. According to them, the missile landed after landing in Earth orbit. However, it did not hit the target. However, China has denied launching such missiles.
Robert Wood, the US permanent spokesman for the disarmament conference in Geneva, Switzerland, expressed concern earlier this week over China’s actions. He said Russia also has hypersonic technology. If one side uses such technology, other countries want to adopt the same technology at least in the interest of their own defense. Robert Wood commented that this could lead to a kind of arms race.
In 2019, China introduced a hypersonic missile called DF-16. The medium-range missile can hit a target at a distance of 2,000 km. It was also said to be capable of carrying nuclear weapons.
Russia also recently launched a hypersonic missile called Zircon from a submarine. Besides, the country has been carrying hypersonic missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons since 2019. Russia has claimed that the missile could launch at 28 times the speed of sound.
