Biden says ‘we do not support independence’ for Taiwan after its election returns party seeking to limit Beijing’s influence

“We do not support self-reliance,” Biden informed press reporters Saturday as he left the White House for Camp David.

The president’s remark appears planned to lighten issues in China, who had actually hoped Taiwan’s present vice president, Lai Ching-te, would not be chosen president. Outcomes revealed Lai, who has actually preserved close ties with the United States, edging out Hou Yu-ih of the opposition Nationalist Party, who had actually vowed to broaden trade and diplomacy with China.

China has actually long declared that the island of Taiwan is its area, and President Xi Jinping has actually promoted for marriage and declined to eliminate a military intervention.

The United States has actually typically embraced a policy of tactical obscurity, where it acknowledges China’s historic claims to sovereignty over Taiwan and preserves just informal relations with Taiwan while vowing defense support to the island. Still, tips by Biden that the United States would step in militarily if China were to attack Taiwan have actually roiled the relationship in between the United States and Beijing.

United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated the election reveals the strength of Taiwan’s “robust democratic system” and restated that the United States “is dedicated to preserving cross-Strait peace and stability, and the serene resolution of distinctions, devoid of browbeating and pressure.”

The United States will deal with Lai and all celebration leaders in Taiwan “to even more our longstanding informal relationship” constant with the United States’s one-China policy, he stated in a declaration.

Home Speaker Mike Johnson will ask a delegation of House legislators to take a trip to Taipei after Lai’s inauguration in May, he stated ina post on Xpreviously referred to as Twitter.

— With support from Ashleigh Carrington Fields