Biden’s Taiwan Gaffes Risk Real-World Consequences
- President walks back ‘independent’ comment day after Xi summit
- Loose talk undercuts careful diplomacy on explosive issue
Joe Biden speaks during a virtual meeting with Xi Jinping, on Nov. 15.
Photographer: Sarah Silbiger/UPI/Bloomberg
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When it comes to Taiwan -- long seen as the issue most likely to drag the U.S. and China into war -- every word matters. And lately President Joe Biden has been flubbing his lines regularly.
After reassuring Chinese leader Xi Jinping that the U.S. doesn’t take a position on Taiwan’s sovereignty in a Monday virtual summit, Biden one day later described the island as “independent” to reporters. The president quickly walked back the comment, saying he was referring only to the democratically ruled island’s need to make its own decisions, and not asserting its independence -- China’s oft-stated red line for an invasion.