During an interview on CBS’s 60 Minutes, Biden said that the U.S. would send American service members to defend Taiwan “if in fact there was an unprecedented attack” by China.
White House officials told the television program, however, that the president’s comments did not represent a change in U.S. policy, and that there is no official commitment to mount a defense of Taiwan. White House Indo-Pacific coordinator Kurt Campbell then denied that this contradicts what the president said during the interview last night.
This is the fourth time that Biden has, since the beginning of his presidency, vowed to defend Taiwan from a Chinese invasion, only for White House officials to subsequently walk back his comments.
Campbell, speaking to a conference in Washington today, said that the administration’s comments were not, in fact, a walk-back: “I do not believe that it is appropriate to call the remarks that came from the White House today as walking back the president’s remarks,” he said, according to Reuters. “The president’s remarks speak for themselves. I do think our policy has been consistent and is unchanged and will continue.”