uS President Joe Biden has again pledged military support to Taiwan in the event of an attack. “Yes, if there were actually an unprecedented attack,” Biden said in a TV interview when asked, “Would US forces defend the island?” Biden answered questions from Scott in the interview recorded Thursday Pelley on the show 60 Minutes. Pelley asked again: “So in contrast to Ukraine, to be clear: US forces (…) would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion?” Biden again affirmed the question.
Pelley explained on the show that after interviewing Biden, the White House clarified that US policy had not changed and the US would not officially say whether American forces would defend Taiwan. Biden was similarly clear on a trip to Japan in May, saying the US has an “obligation” to defend Taiwan in the event of an attack. At the beginning of August, US top politician Nancy Pelosi caused tensions with China with a trip to Taiwan.
The communist leadership in Beijing regards Taiwan as part of the People’s Republic and threatens to conquer it. The United States has committed itself to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself – which has so far primarily meant arms deliveries. The question of military assistance in the event of an attack was deliberately left open because Beijing would see this as a violation of the “One China Doctrine”.
Biden sees pandemic over
In the interview, the US President also declared the corona pandemic over. “The pandemic is over, but we still have a problem with Covid,” Biden said. “As you can see, nobody wears a mask here. Everyone seems to be in pretty good shape. So I believe the situation is changing and I think this is a perfect example of that.”
The US President tested positive for Corona in July and was treated with the Covid drug Paxlovid. At the end of August, his wife Jill contracted the virus and was also treated with the drug.
In the USA, around 390 people die every day on a seven-day average as a result of Covid 19 disease. US authorities recently approved two corona vaccines adapted to the omicron variant. The two preparations are so-called bivalent mRNA vaccines from the companies Biontech/Pfizer and Moderna.
