Biden says US would defend Taiwan against Chinese invasion

Washington, Oct 21 (EFE) .- United States President Joe Biden said Thursday that his country would defend Taiwan if China launched an attack against the island.

“China, Russia, know that the United States has the most powerful military in the world,” Biden said during a televised voter event organized by CNN.

Asked whether the US would defend Taiwan militarily if China decides to invade the island, Biden replied: “Yes, we have a commitment.”

Tension between the United States and China over Taiwan has risen in recent weeks in the wake of military advances by the two sides.

China carried out a series of air raids near Taiwan, while the United States said it has assigned a small contingent of military personnel on the island for at least a year to train local forces.

The US and China are pushing the status quo created in 1979 to the limit, when Washington recognized Beijing as the only Chinese government with the understanding that Taiwan would have a peaceful future.

All this has created a rarefied climate in the region that has caused relations between Taipei and Beijing to go through their worst moment in the last four decades, according to local Taiwanese authorities.

Taiwanese Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng went so far as to affirm that China will be “capable of organizing a large-scale invasion” of the island by 2025, which has set off alarms in Washington. EFE

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