The White House insisted Thursday that US policy toward Taiwan “has not changed” following Joe Biden's remarks in an interview that the US would not shy away from a hypothetical defence of Taiwan. Chinese media blasted the president over his comments, and warned “secessionists” in Taipei not to “swim in the sputum that Biden carelessly spits out”.
Taiwanese foreign minister Joseph Wu has accused China of seeking to “emulate” the Taliban*, and expressed gratitude to Washington for its continued diplomatic support for the island.
The diplomat did not elaborate on what he meant about China seeking to “emulate” the Afghani Sunni extremist militant group, but accompanied the tweet with a clip from a recent press briefing by State Department spokesman Ned Price.
In the briefing, which took place Thursday, Price said that the US would “continue to support a peaceful resolution of cross-strait relations consistent with the wishes and best interests of the Taiwan people,” and urged Beijing “to cease its military, diplomatic, economic pressure against Taiwan, and instead to engage in meaningful dialogue”.
The spokesman also stressed that “events elsewhere in the world, whether that's in Afghanistan or any other region, are not going to change that”, in an apparent nod to President Joe Biden's recent comments on Taiwan.
Speaking to ABC News on Wednesday, Biden insisted that there was a “fundamental difference” between the US retreat from…