Cotton Slams Biden’s ‘Muddled and Confused’ Taiwan Policy — ‘The Worst of All Possible Worlds’

Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) on Tuesday blasted President Joe Biden’s policy on Taiwan should China attack.

Cotton criticized Biden for saying that the United States would defend Taiwan should China invade, comments that were later walked back by the White House. The Arkansas lawmaker asserted that the”muddled and confused” policy was “the worst of all possible worlds.”

“The policy that Joe Biden seems to have stumbled on yesterday, or for that matter two other times in the past nine months, is the correct policy for the United States now,” Cotton explained. “China is our number one competitor. Taiwan is the most dangerous flashpoint in the world. For many years, we had so-called strategic ambiguity because the Chinese military is not capable of executing the invasion of Taiwan. That’s not the case anymore. So, the best way to deter a war over Taiwan before it happens is strategic clarity to make it absolutely clear that the United States will come to Taiwan’s aid.”

He continued, “Unfortunately, what we’ve seen with President Biden now three times in nine months is not strategic ambiguity or clarity — it’s muddled and confused ambiguity. On three times, President Biden has seemed to change U.S. policy only to have anonymous White House staff immediately correct him. It is the worst of both worlds because it gives provocation without deterrence. You can see how it provoked Beijing yesterday in their intemperate response, but Beijing probably doesn’t think that Joe Biden is really willing to go defend Taiwan, given the fact that he allows his anonymous aides to rush out and change it. This is the worst of all possible worlds.”

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