President Biden has vowed to defend Taiwan if it’s attacked by China. He made the remark when questioned during a news conference in Tokyo earlier today.

Nancy Cordes: “You didn’t want to get involved in the Ukraine conflict militarily for obvious reasons. Are you willing to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan if it comes to that?”

President Joe Biden: “Yes.”

Nancy Cordes: “You are?”

President Joe Biden: “That’s the commitment we made. That’s the commitment we made. We are not — look, here’s the situation. We agree with the One China policy. We’ve signed on to it and all the attendant agreements made from there. But the idea that it can be taken by force, just taken by force, is just not appropriate. It will dislocate the entire region and be another action similar to what happened in Ukraine.”

After Biden spoke, White House officials tried to walk back his comments, which mark a shift from a longtime U.S. policy on Taiwan known as “strategic ambiguity.”

During his trip to Asia, Biden also unveiled a new trade initiative with 12 Indo-Pacific countries as part of an effort to counter China’s growing power in the region. On Sunday, hundreds of demonstrators gathered in Tokyo to protest Biden’s visit.

Shunkichi Takayama: “Their actions are extremely dangerous now. Japan and the U.S. are trying to conduct a war of aggression on China.”