Joe Biden assured Tuesday that he did not want to encourage the independence of Taiwan, in order to clarify new ambiguous remarks which could have constituted a departure from the traditional position of the United States on the island claimed by China.
Read alsoJoe Biden and Xi Jinping draw their red line on Taiwan
Asked by journalists, during a trip to the state of New Hampshire, on possible progress on the question of Taiwan during his virtual summit on Monday with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, the American president replied by l 'affirmative.
"Yes. We made it very clear that we support the Taiwan Act and that's it, ”
he said. The Taiwan Relations Act is a law adopted in 1979 by the American Congress, which governs American policy in this area: namely that Washington undertakes to recognize only one China, while providing arms to Taiwan for its self-defense. .
But Joe Biden also added, appearing to be talking about Taiwan:
“He's independent.
He makes his own decisions ”
.
This formulation risked arousing Beijing's anger, while President Xi warned during their virtual meeting that working for the independence of the island amounted to
"playing with fire"
.
“We are not promoting independence.
We encourage them to do exactly what the Taiwan Act provides
,
”
the US president then clarified.
"I said they have to make their decisions about Taiwan, not us."
Read alsoJoe Biden and Xi Jinping seek to frame their rivalry
Joe Biden also assured once again that the United States did
not
intend
"at all to change"
policy. On Monday evening, he warned that Washington was
“firmly”
opposed
to any
“unilateral
attempt
to change the status quo or undermine peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait”
- a phrase that can equally well be said. 'address to Taiwanese leaders.
The Democratic leader had already sown trouble in October by asserting that Washington had a
"commitment"
to militarily defend Taipei in the event of a Chinese attack.
He had thus seemed to break with the traditional
“strategic ambiguity”
of the United States in the name of which they had never made it clear whether they would intervene in the event of Beijing's invasion of the island - a way of keeping the peace in discouraging the Taiwanese rulers from proclaiming formal independence.
The White House had already had to correct the situation by ensuring that there should be no change in strategy.