Biden's unclear Taiwan position exacerbates China-spurred tumult over Pelosi's plan: Rivera
Biden has stated and walked-back assertions about China-Taiwan policy.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}President Biden's relatively unclear policy toward Taiwanese sovereignty complicates the relationship between the U.S., Taiwan and China, Fox News correspondent-at-large Geraldo Rivera said Thursday.
Rivera said Biden doesn't seem to know what the U.S.' official policy is toward China in this way, noting earlier this year Biden disclosed – then walked-back – an assertion that American military intervention would commence if Beijing invaded the nearby island.
In his May 24 clarification – which was not the first time the president offered assertions on the issue – Biden said the U.S. has a policy of "strategic ambiguity" toward the situation.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Since the 1970s; since the Nixon-Kissinger days, we've had a policy of One China: There's the Chinese government in Beijing, and Taiwan is part of China. Now, what we've said is we have strategic ambiguity," Rivera added.
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Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping. (AP/Getty Images)
"We've hinted very strongly that if China were to try to take Taiwan by force, the United States would intervene. But now I don't know what our policy is, and that's what the problem is that that leads to confusion: and confusion leads to peril."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Rivera said he is no fan of the Chinese Communist regime, while adding that "picking a fight" over House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's, D-Calif., purported plans to visit Taipei, "that I don't even know is real" is not the wisest tact.
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Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
The "Five" host cited comparisons to then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., and then-top Democratic Rep. John Dingell Jr. of Michigan traveling to Taiwan in 1997.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}He noted that delegation also irked the Chinese government – but contrasted the "much more powerful China of 2022."
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Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen delivers a speech in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying, File)
"She has an absolute right to go but she needs to understand the consequences," he said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"We have the USS Ronald Reagan there right now – the big carrier strike group: 50 ships, 27,000 sailors and marines. The United States is not wimping out."
Host Sean Hannity remarked in response that he trusts the nation's top military general, Gen. Mark A. Milley, much more than "General Joe" [Biden] in this regard.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Pelosi has not formally announced any official trip.