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1.新聞網址︰
https://tinyurl.com/y9kn394u

2.新聞來源︰
Bloomberg 彭博社

3.完整新聞標題
Biden’s Latest Taiwan Gaffe Stokes Tensions With Beijing
# President says US would defend island militarily if attacked
# White House says Biden only promised Ukraine-like weapons aid

拜登最新對台失言升高中美緊張關係
# 拜登表示若台灣遭攻擊美國將會軍事協防；
# 但白宮澄清拜登只承諾提供類烏克蘭模式軍援。

4.完整新聞內容︰
President Joe Biden is seeking to show US resolve against China, yet an
ill-timed gaffe on Taiwan risks undermining his bid to curb Beijing’s
growing influence over the region.

Whether intentional or not, Biden provoked China with a vow to defend Taiwan
militarily. After saying that US policy on Taiwan “had not changed at all”
 during a news conference in Tokyo, he then answered “yes” when asked if
the US would act “militarily” to defend the island in the event of a
Chinese attack.
“It’s a commitment we made,” Biden added.
拜登表示若台灣遭中國攻擊，美國將會軍事協防。

White House officials later walked back the remark, saying the president was
only promising US aid to help Taiwan defend itself in the event of
hostilities. That would be akin to what the US is doing in Ukraine, where
Biden has vowed not to send troops.
但白宮官員澄清總統僅是承諾協助台灣自衛--類似美國對烏克蘭的軍援--絕不會出兵。

“The policy has not changed at all, and I stated that when I made my
statement,” Biden said Tuesday when pressed by reporters to clarify the US
position.
而稍晚拜登也在記者追問下重申美國對台政策不變。

The president’s remark nonetheless roiled Biden’s first trip to Asia since
taking office and upstaged his roll-out of a new strategic framework for the
region. It also cast new light on Washington’s decades-old approach of “
strategic ambiguity” about whether US forces would defend Taiwan against
China, while also adopting a “One China” policy under which Taiwan isn’t
recognized as an independent country.

It’s a complicated policy, criticized both by Beijing and some US lawmakers,
that has tripped up Biden and some of his predecessors in the past. Biden has
made similar missteps on Taiwan at least twice as president, but in making
the remark so close to Chinese territory and in the context of the Ukraine
war, the impact was amplified.

Although the latest episode is unlikely to fundamentally alter the US-China
relationship, it highlights the current tension around Taiwan at a time when
Chinese officials have expressed concern about American efforts to box in
their country. And Biden’s remark also opened him to criticism by domestic
political opponents who have sought to portray the president, 79, as infirm
and unfit for the job.

Seeking ‘Clarity’
Senator Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican, said that Biden’s comments
represented a shift toward “strategic clarity” on Taiwan and that the
president should outline a clear US commitment to defend the island “in
clear, deliberate remarks from a prepared text.”

“Otherwise, the continued ambiguity and uncertainty will likely provoke the
Chinese communists without deterring them — the worst of both worlds,” he
said.

Indeed, one Chinese official suggested that Biden’s comment may have been
deliberate, aimed at testing Beijing’s response to a policy change. The
official, who asked not to be identified describing internal Chinese
government discussions, portrayed such a potential US approach as dangerous.

China’s leaders have closely watched the Ukraine crisis unfold, taking note
of Russia’s political and economic isolation as well as the massive
international support for Kyiv as they consider their posture toward Taiwan.

And Biden spoke in Tokyo, the capital of a major Chinese rival, on a trip to
strengthen the US alliance with new, Washington-friendly leaders of Japan and
South Korea, two countries already unfriendly toward Beijing.

Biden’s previous comments about US support for Taiwan happened during
domestic television interviews.

“The level of concern in Beijing about US policy toward Taiwan is already
very high, and this episode will further heighten that concern, especially
since it was said in Tokyo,” said Bonnie Glaser, Asia program director at
the German Marshall Fund of the US.

While Biden’s intent may have been to deter a Chinese attack on Taiwan, “
his messaging is confusing and may undermine deterrence,” Glaser added. The
US’s policy of “strategic ambiguity” on Taiwan, which Biden has repeatedly
backed during his five-decade Washington career, is intended to minimize the
risk of a direct military confrontation with China.

White House officials said after Biden’s news conference that the president
stands behind the “One China” policy and its commitment under the Taiwan
Relations Act to provide the island with the military means to defend itself.
Officials said that by answering “yes” when asked if the US would defend
Taiwan, the president meant the US would supply military equipment to the
island, not send troops.
白宮官員表示拜登在一中政策及台灣關係法下，記者會中承諾的是美國會提供台灣自我防衛的軍武，而不是派兵。

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin nonetheless denounced Biden’s
comments on Monday and said the US should refrain from sending the wrong
message on Taiwan, “to avoid causing grave damage to bilateral relations.”

Although Biden may have sought to evoke a Ukraine-like effort to keep Taipei
supplied in the event of an invasion, the island would present an entirely
different strategic challenge. It doesn’t share a land border with American
allies, as does Ukraine, meaning China could more easily blockade its ports
and airports to prevent resupply.

Biden’s comments set off a now-familiar cycle for White House aides, who
have become accustomed to cleaning up the president’s remarks on world hot
spots. After Biden declared in Poland that Russian President Vladimir Putin “
cannot remain in power,” his advisers insisted the president wasn’t
advocating regime change.

And Biden told reporters that lawyers at the State Department might feel
differently after he labeled Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a “genocide.”

Biden previously said the US would come to Taiwan’s defense during an ABC
News interview in August and in a CNN town hall in October. The US abandoned
its post-Chinese civil war position that it would defend Taiwan in the late
1970s when it normalized relations with Beijing.

Biden, who as a senator chaired the Foreign Relations Committee for about
four years, has on other occasions used language that appeared to alter US
policy on Taiwan, including by describing the island last year as “
independent.”

Trump, Bush
Several of Biden’s predecessors had similar trouble with Taiwan.

President Donald Trump made a congratulatory phone call to Taiwan’s
president, Tsai Ing-wen, in December 2016 after her election -- the first
time a US president or president-elect had spoken directly to Taiwan’s
leader since 1979. And Trump publicly mused before taking office about
abandoning the “One China” policy, only to restate the US position in
February 2017.

President George W. Bush agreed with an ABC News interviewer that the US had
an obligation to defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese attack and said that
the US would provide “whatever it took to help Taiwan defend herself.”

No matter the clean-up by White House officials, China has always assumed US
involvement in any conflict with Taiwan, said Ryan Hass, the Cecilia Yen Koo
Chair in Taiwan Studies at the Brookings Institution.

“Beijing always has had to base its military plans in the Taiwan Strait on
an assumption of US military intervention, Hass said. “It would represent
strategic malpractice for Beijing to assume anything otherwise.”

The Chinese Embassy in Washington declined to elaborate on the foreign
ministry’s comments. The White House didn’t respond to a request for
additional comments.

“The US will suffer the consequences and the American people may rebel if
the US president wants to send American soldiers to fight in Taiwan,” said
former Chinese diplomat Gao Zhikai.

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said last week that Biden may
speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping in coming weeks, and Xi may decide to
wait until that conversation before reaching judgments about the US policy
direction toward Taiwan, Hass said.

5.附註、心得、想法︰
如果是像白宮澄清的以類烏克蘭模式提供台灣自我防衛的軍武，是不是辜負幾十年來最好的台美關係?

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