US President Joe Biden, who on Monday stepped up his warnings against Beijing during his visit to Tokyo, stressed that the United States will defend Taiwan if China invades, which he says is “playing with fire” by stepping up its military exercises. . .
China responded firmly, stating that the issue was one of its “sovereignty”. After a three-day visit to South Korea, Biden arrived in Tokyo on Sunday evening. US officials cite Japan and South Korea as the main pillars of the United States in the face of China’s rise in the region.
In a joint press conference Monday with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Biden warned that the United States was ready to use its military capabilities if Beijing invaded the self-ruled island of Taiwan. “We were in agreement with the one China policy… but the idea of taking (Taiwan) by force is simply not appropriate,” he said. Beijing reacted quickly, urging the US president not to “underestimate” his “strong determination” to “defend his sovereignty.”
“We urge the United States to avoid giving false signals to independent forces” in Taiwan, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters.
On the other hand, a White House spokesman said Biden’s comments were in line with US policy on Taiwan. “Our policy has not changed. He reaffirmed our one China policy and our commitment to peace and stability on both sides of the Taiwan Strait,” the official said, including promising to “provide Taiwan with the military means to defend itself.”
Although Washington diplomatically recognized Beijing, not Taipei, since 1979, US support for Taiwan has not ceased. Biden and Kishida took a hard line on Beijing, reaffirming their “common vision of the Indo-Pacific as free and open” and saying they agreed to monitor Chinese naval activity in a region where Beijing is showing growing ambitions. “We must call on China to abide by international law, including on economic issues,” Kishida said.
US leadership – The US President also addressed Russia, warning that it “must pay a long-term price” for its “brutality in Ukraine” under the sanctions imposed by the US and its allies. Biden said “it’s not just Ukraine” because “unless sanctions are kept at multiple levels, what signal will be sent to China about the cost of trying to control Taiwan by force?”
Biden in Tokyo also seeks to strengthen the US’s leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, joining the leaders of Australia, India and Japan during the Quad alliance summit. The White House said it was “an important opportunity to exchange views and further strengthen practical cooperation in the Indo-Pacific.”
So far, India, a member of the Quadruple Alliance, has refused to publicly condemn Moscow for its war in Ukraine and has refused to cut its trade with Russia. On Tuesday, Biden will hold a private meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
At every stage of Biden’s visit, there is concern that an unpredictable North Korea might launch a new missile or conduct a nuclear test. Nothing like this happened during Biden’s visit to Seoul.
business partnership
During his press conference with Kishida, Biden introduced the new Asia-Pacific Trade Partnership, which includes 13 countries, including the US and Japan, but not China. The Indo-Pacific Economic Framework is not a free trade agreement, but provides for greater integration between member states in four key areas: the digital economy, supply chains, clean energy infrastructure, and fighting corruption.
China believes it was deliberately excluded and has been open about it since Sunday, denouncing “small blocs” aimed at “containing China.”
In 2017, the United States under Donald Trump withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a broad multilateral free trade agreement that was revamped in 2018 into a new agreement that does not include Washington. Biden has made it clear that he does not intend to restart free trade agreements, given the opinion of the American public, which sees most of these agreements as a threat to employment opportunities in the United States.
On the other hand, Biden announced on Monday that he intends to remove some customs restrictions on China, indicating that they were not introduced by his administration. The US president ended his day by joining Kishida and his wife at an upscale Tokyo garden restaurant serving sushi along with other traditional dishes.