The White House has once again walked back a statement by President Joe Biden that the United States would protect Taiwan militarily from China.
On Tuesday, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Biden was speaking about a hypothetical situation when responding to a question about Taiwan he said that the US would deploy troops to the island.
Sullivan clarified that the president misspoke and was not talking about official American policy, FOX News reported.
Sullivan was at a White House press briefing responding to a reporter’s query about Biden’s comments.
During a Sunday interview with 60 Minutes, Biden said that the US would deploy troops to Taiwan to defend the island against an “unprecedented attack” by China.
It has not been US policy to pledge to defend Taiwan militarily from a Chinese invasion. Sullivan added that Biden’s statement should not be be perceived as a change in official policy.
"As the president said in his interview on ‘60 Minutes,’ we continue to stand behind the One China policy," Sullivan said. "When the President of the United States wants to announce a policy change, he will do so. He has not done so."
The One China policy refers to the US regarding Beijing as the official government of China and gives Taiwan only informal relations and diplomatic status.
Sullivan added: “[Biden] stands behind the historic U.S. policy toward Taiwan that has existed through Democrat and Republican administrations and has helped keep peace and stability across the Taiwan strait for decades.”
Biden has previously misspoken about America’s policy toward Taiwan. In August 2021, he told George Stephanopoulos that Taiwan was one of the US’s closes allied that he would defend militarily. In October 2021, he claimed the US had a “commitment” to defend Taiwan from an invasion. In May, he made a similar statement referring to a “commitment we made.”
Each time, the White House was forced to clarify that no change in US-Taiwan policy had taken place.