China on Friday said there is "no room" for compromise or concessions on the issue of Taiwan, following a comment by President Biden that the US is committed to defending the island if it is attacked. In his comments at a CNN town hall, Biden said the US doesn't want a new Cold War, but expressed concern about whether China was "going to engage in activities that will put them in a position where they may make a serious mistake," the AP reports. "I just want to make China understand that we are not going to step back, we are not going to change any of our views." Biden said. Asked whether the US would come to Taiwan's defense if it were attacked, he replied: "Yes, we have a commitment to do that."
China has recently upped its threat to bring Taiwan under its control by force if necessary by flying warplanes near the island and rehearsing beach landings. Biden's comments were viewed as stretching the "strategic ambiguity" Washington has maintained over how it would respond to an assault on the self-governing island republic. After his remarks, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin reasserted China’s longstanding claim that the island is its territory. "No one should underestimate the strong determination, firm will, and strong ability of the Chinese people to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Wang said.
"Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory. The Taiwan issue is purely an internal affair of China that allows no foreign intervention," Wang said. He added that the US should "be cautious with its words and actions on the Taiwan issue, and not send any wrong signals to the separatist forces of Taiwan independence, so as not to seriously damage China-US relations and peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait." After Biden's remarks Thursday, the White House clarified that there had been no change in US policy, as it did after similar comments from the president in August, the Guardian reports. (More Taiwan stories.)
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