Judging Freedom - Biden willing to use force defending Taiwan

Episode Date: May 23, 2022

#Biden #TaiwanSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Good morning, everyone. Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom. Today is Monday, May 23rd, 2022 of rumors that came out of Washington that the final decision on the abortion case, that's the Mississippi Dobbs case, the one where the draft opinion by Justice Samuel Alito was illicitly leaked about a month ago, that the final decision was going to come down this morning. But that rumor turned out not to be true. It appears that the Supreme Court's next day for opinions to come down will be Tuesday, May 31st, the day after Memorial Day. However, shortly before we rushed to the camera waiting to see if the abortion opinion came out from the Supreme Court, the President of the United States completed a press conference in Japan. And at that press

conference, he was asked a very interesting question. I'll summarize the question and then I'll let you hear it and you'll hear his answer. The answer may surprise you. Mr. President, we know that you were not prepared to get involved militarily in defending Ukraine. But if China attacks Taiwan, will the U.S. get involved militarily? Here's the question. Here's President Biden's answer. Very quickly, 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? Yes, you are. That's a commitment we made. That's a commitment we made. We are not. Look, here's the situation.

We agree with a one China policy policy we've signed on to it so the united states uh had a treaty a treaty of defense with taiwan from 1956 to 1980 and then the treaty expired by its own terms in 1980 and then the united states signed on to the so-called one China policy. What does that mean? All right. When the communist Chinese took over China in 1949, they chased the government of Chiang Kai-shek, which was the last arguably free government in China. They chased that government to the island of Taiwan. Taiwan is a little bit smaller than New Jersey. And for years, the United States of America recognized that government in Taiwan as the government of China. Even though it was only

the government of Taiwan, it was not the government of the huge country of China. Eventually that changed. The United States and the world recognized that the communist Chinese had taken over China and that they were the government, licit or illicit, they were the real government. Then the United States of America in the Carter administration decided, well, there's really only one China, and that's mainland China, but we're just going to leave Taiwan alone. We'll put some troops there, and if anything happens, we'll defend it. But President Biden is the first president since the expiration of the treaty obliging us to defend Taiwan. Again, it expired in, to say, yes, we will use military force to defend Taiwan. It was a very startling answer. Now, I wasn't there at the press conference, but those

who were reported that his senior staff, particularly the national security staff, squirmed in their chairs. Since then, the White House has said, look, we're not trying to pick a fight with China, but the president just wanted to send a message, leave Taiwan alone. I think that that's what the president's goal was. But who knows with this president if he actually meant it. We do have troops there at present. We have American military equipment there at present. Our troops and our military equipment have been there consistently since 1956. What would happen if the island were attacked? Why is it being raised now? the comparable example of Russia invading Ukraine, depending upon which side of that argument you are. Either Russia is illicitly trying to take over a free country, or it's trying to take back that which was taken from it. The same arguments would be raised if mainland China, the Chinese government headed by President Xi, the super economic powerhouse, decides that it

wants to take over Taiwan. It was startling to hear President Biden say that, but he did. It'll be in the front pages tomorrow, and we'll probably be talking about what the heck he meant for the week. Judge Napolitano for judging freedom.