Taipei, Aug. 20 (CNA) U.S. President Joe Biden's pledge to "respond" in the event of an attack on Taiwan shows that Washington is moving toward a policy of "constructive clarity" with regard to the island's defense, a Taiwanese scholar said Friday.
In an interview with ABC News Thursday, Biden was asked about recent efforts by Chinese media to use the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan to convince Taiwan that "you can't count on the Americans."
In response, Biden said that there was a "fundamental difference" between the situation in Afghanistan and the United States' commitment to entities like Taiwan, South Korea and NATO.
The U.S. would "respond" if anyone were to invade or take action against a NATO ally, Biden said, before adding, "same with Japan, same with South Korea, same with Taiwan."
Observers were quick to note that the remarks may have been a slip, given that the U.S. has explicit defense agreements with NATO, Japan and South Korea, but has long maintained a policy of "strategic ambiguity" on the defense of Taiwan.
Although administration officials later walked back the comments, saying that U.S. policy toward Taiwan has not changed, Taiwanese scholar Su Tzu-yun (???) said the remarks were indicative of a broader U.S. shift toward "constructive strategic clarity" on Taiwan.
Su, a senior analyst at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, listed a number of ways this trend can be observed, starting with such direct statements by the U.S. on how it would respond to an attack on Taiwan.
Washington has also made use of military "shows of force," Su said, citing examples such as the transits by U.S. warships through the Taiwan Strait and the increase in American military presence and activities in the region.
In addition, the U.S. has used public diplomacy, such as social media posts by the Navy's Pacific and Seventh fleets documenting their activities in the region, to signal its commitment to Taiwan, Su said.
In contrast, former Foreign Minister Chen Chien-jen (???) suggested that Biden's remarks were motivated more by domestic political factors, though he also disputed the comparison between Taiwan and Afghanistan.
Large nations generally act based on self-interest, and in that sense, the current U.S. support for Taiwan is part of its broader strategy in the Indo-Pacific region, Chen said.
As for how far the U.S. would actually go to help Taiwan, that is a topic that can be better discussed in the broader context of Taiwan-U.S. and cross-Taiwan Strait relations, he added.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel