President Joe Biden's remarks on Monday about the U.S. "commitment" to defend Taiwan militarily if the island is attacked by China appears to represent a more aggressive approach than previous presidents have taken. While Biden said that the U.S. policy of so-called "strategic ambiguity" on Taiwan had not changed, his comments are his strongest warning yet to China that the U.S. would defend Taiwan if it's attacked.
Biden may feel emboldened to take a harder line against China following the strategic failures of the Russian invasion of neighboring Ukraine, where Russian forces could not seize the capital city of Kyiv during the first stage of the war and have subsequently fallen back.
The president directly linked the issue of a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan to the Russia-Ukraine conflict on Monday as he answered a question about Taiwan's defense.
Biden told reporters in Tokyo that China was "already flirting with danger right now by flying so close and all the maneuvers that they are undertaking," referring to Chinese incursions into Taiwan's airspace.
He said the U.S. responsibility to defend Taiwan was "even stronger" following the Russian invasion.
"That's the commitment we made," the president.
Biden added that if China invaded Taiwan it would "dislocate the entire region and be another action similar to what happened in Ukraine."
China considers Taiwan to be part of its sovereign territory and the U.S. has pursued a One China policy that recognizes just one Chinese government—the one based in Beijing.
"America is committed to a One China policy but that does not mean China has the jurisdiction to use force to take Taiwan," Biden said on Monday.
Taiwan's government has been left diplomatically isolated and most of the world's nations do not have formal diplomatic relations with the island, including the U.S.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has previously said the "reunification" of Taiwan with China is inevitable and has not ruled out the use of force.
The U.S. has long pursued a policy of strategic ambiguity toward Taiwan by not publicly committing to defend the island from a Chinese attack but not saying the U.S. wouldn't intervene either.
This chart by Statista shows Chinese incursions into Taiwanese airspace over the last year.