US President Joe Biden (L) and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during a press conference in Tokyo on May 23, 2022 ( AFP / SAUL LOEB )
US President Joe Biden, visiting Tokyo, stepped up warnings against Beijing on Monday, warning that the United States would defend Taiwan in the event of an invasion of the island by China which, according to him, “flirts with danger” by multiplying military maneuvers.
Beijing reacted strongly by invoking its “sovereignty”, and judging that the United States “plays with fire”.
After a visit to South Korea, Mr. Biden arrived in Japan on Sunday, American officials considering these two countries as the linchpins of the American system in the face of China’s rise in power in the region.
During a joint press conference Monday with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Mr. Biden warned that the United States was ready to use its military means if Beijing invaded the autonomous island of Taiwan.
“We agreed with the one China policy, we signed it (…) but the idea that (Taiwan) can be taken by force is simply not appropriate”, a– he added.
Beijing quickly responded by calling on the US president to “not underestimate” his “firm determination” to “protect his sovereignty”.
“We urge the United States (…) to avoid sending the wrong signals to the independence forces” in Taiwan, said Wang Wenbin, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The United States is “playing with fire”, then reacted Zhu Fenglian, a spokeswoman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, often described as the Chinese government. They “use the + map of Taiwan + to contain China and will burn themselves there”, she added.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said Biden’s comments were consistent with US policy on Taiwan.
“As the president said, our one-China policy has not changed,” Austin said. “He also underscored our commitment, in the Taiwan Relations Act, to empower Taiwan to defend itself,” he added.
Displaying a united front against Beijing, MM. Biden and Kishida also reaffirmed their “shared vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific”, the Japanese Prime Minister specifying that Tokyo and Washington “will monitor the recent activities of the Chinese navy, as well as the movements related to the joint exercises of China and Russia”.
– American leadership –
The US president took aim at Russia, saying Moscow must “pay a long-term price” for its “barbarism in Ukraine” through sanctions imposed by the United States and its allies.
“It’s not just about Ukraine,” Biden said. Because if “the sanctions were not maintained (…) what signal would that send to China on the cost of an attempt to take Taiwan by force?”.
Also in Tokyo on Tuesday, Biden will seek to bolster American leadership in the Asia-Pacific region by joining leaders from Australia, India and Japan for a summit of an informal alliance called Quad.
US President Joe Biden, during a press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, in Tokyo on May 23, 2022 (AFP / SAUL LOEB)
However, India has distinguished itself so far by its refusal to openly condemn Moscow over the war in Ukraine or to reduce its trade with Russia. Mr Biden will have a one-on-one meeting on Tuesday with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The fear that the unpredictable North Korea will fire another missile or conduct a nuclear test looms over every stop on Mr Biden’s tour. Nothing happened during his stay in Seoul.
– Business partnership –
During his press conference with Mr. Kishida, Mr. Biden also unveiled a new economic partnership in Asia-Pacific initially involving 13 countries, with the notable exception of China.
The Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) is not a free trade agreement, but provides for further integration among its member countries in four key areas: digital economy, supply chains, green energy and the fight against corruption.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during a press conference with US President Joe Biden, in Tokyo on May 23, 2022 (POOL / Nicolas Datiche)
Beijing feels deliberately excluded and has already made it known, castigating on Sunday “small cliques” intended to “contain China”.
Under Donald Trump, the United States withdrew in 2017 from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a vast multilateral free trade agreement which was the subject of a new treaty in 2018 without Washington.
Mr Biden has made it clear that he has no intention of reviving major free trade agreements, but announced on Monday that he was considering lifting certain tariff barriers weighing on China, stressing that they had not been imposed by its administration.