What is ‘strategic ambiguity’?

When the United States opened diplomatic relations with Communist-led China in 1979, it agreed to break off formal ties with Taiwan, a democratic island with a government then controlled by Nationalists who had fled mainland China in 1949 after losing a civil war. With the unusual exception of Trump and Tsai, there has been no direct contact between the leaders of the United States and Taiwan since. The United States, however, did not completely break off its relationship with Taiwan. On April 10, 1979, President Jimmy Carter signed into law the Taiwan Relations Act, which set out a series of provisions for unofficial but substantive relations with Taiwan. However, while that act said that “the United States will make available to Taiwan such defense articles and defense services in such quantity as may be necessary to enable Taiwan to maintain sufficient self-defense capabilities,” it did not specifically say whether the United States would support Taipei in the event of a war with China. This stance came to be known as “strategic ambiguity” — a policy that allows the United States to remain deliberately ambiguous on the question of Taiwan’s defense, even as it enjoys otherwise close relations including arms sales. The United States also operates under the one-China policy, by which it acknowledges Beijing’s position that there is only one China, with the understanding that Taiwan’s fate will not be decided by force.

How do China and Taiwan view ‘strategic ambiguity’?

Over recent years, military exercises by China have appeared to test the limits of U.S. support for Taiwan, prompting some officials from the island to wonder if they are out of date. In an interview with The Washington Post’s Today’s WorldView newsletter a year ago, Taiwan’s de facto ambassador to the United States called for a change. “We need some degree of clarity,” said Bi-khim Hsiao, representative of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Washington. Chinese officials, at a Foreign Ministry briefing on Friday, criticized Biden’s remarks on Taiwan: The United States should “be cautious with its words and actions on the Taiwan issue, and not send any wrong signals to the separatist forces of Taiwan independence, so as not to seriously damage China-U.S. relations and peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” spokesperson Wang Wenbin said. In Taiwan, a spokesperson for President Tsai said the island was focused on defending itself. “Taiwan will demonstrate our firm determination to defend ourselves and continue to work with countries with similar values to make a positive contribution toward the Taiwan Strait and Indo-Pacific region’s peace and stability,” Chang Tun-han said, according to the Associated Press.

Is this a policy change?

U.S. officials have repeatedly emphasized that policy toward Taiwan has not changed. Speaking in Brussels after a NATO conference on Friday, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the United States remained committed to the one-China policy and had no wish for conflict. “Nobody wants to see cross-Strait issues come to blows — certainly not President Biden, and there’s no reason that it should,” Austin said. Some analysts have suggested that Biden, like others before him, appears to be grappling with the often obtuse language of the U.S.-Taiwan relationship. In a statement released early this month, Biden said that he and China’s Xi Jinping had agreed to follow the “Taiwan agreement.” It was not clear what he was referring to. In an interview with ABC News in August, Biden also appeared to suggest that the United States had a commitment to protect Taiwan. “We made a sacred commitment to Article 5 that if in fact anyone were to invade or take action against our NATO allies, we would respond. Same with Japan, same with South Korea, same with — Taiwan. It’s not even comparable to talk about that,” Biden said in an interview after the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan. Biden may not be the only administration official to misspeak. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has referred to Taiwan as a “country” at least twice in public. Despite widespread speculation and pressure from some lawmakers to rethink “strategic ambiguity,” U.S. officials have repeatedly said there has been no change in policy. Donna Cassata contributed reporting from Washington.

clockThis article was published more than 2 years ago

Biden delivered straight talk on Taiwan — contradicting a deliberately ambiguous U.S. policy. Did he misspeak?

By Adam Taylor

October 22, 2021 at 12:47 p.m. EDT

President Biden participates in a CNN town hall at Baltimore Center Stage on Oct. 21. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images)

President Biden was speaking at a forum hosted by CNN on Thursday when the topic turned to China and the reports of increasingly threatening behavior toward Taiwan.

Asked by a member of the audience if the United States would commit to protect Taiwan in the event of a war, Biden appeared to respond affirmatively.

“Are you saying that the United States would come to Taiwan’s defense if China attacked?” host Anderson Cooper interjected.

“Yes. We have a commitment,” Biden quickly responded.

With those five words, the U.S. president initially appeared to have upset the obtusely worded but carefully managed American policy of “strategic ambiguity” toward Taiwan — basically a policy that deliberately makes unclear the answer to the question Cooper asked.

The remarks prompted responses from both Beijing and Taipei on Friday. However, the White House quickly clarified that “there is no change in our policy.” Most analysts believe simply that Biden misspoke.

“There has been no shift. The president was not announcing any change in our policy, nor has he made a decision to change our policy,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said at a briefing Friday.

Taiwan, a self-governing island that Beijing claims as its own, sits in an unusual place in U.S. foreign policy, without diplomatic recognition but working closely with Washington on many issues.

Biden is not the first U.S. leader to stumble when it comes to the norms of the U.S. relationship with Taiwan: Before he became president, Donald Trump sparked an international scandal by accepting a call of congratulations from Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen after winning the 2016 election.