Biden Says U.S. Would Intervene Militarily if China Invaded Taiwan

This time, he chose a venue much closer to Beijing. Mr. Biden spoke Monday alongside the Japanese prime minister in Tokyo during his first trip to Asia as commander-in-chief.

The president was asked if the U.S. would get involved militarily in response to a Chinese invasion of Taiwan after declining to send American troops to Ukraine to fight Russia’s invasion.

“Yes. That’s the commitment we made,” he said.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman

Wang Wenbin

raised his voice when asked at a regular briefing about Mr. Biden’s remarks and said Beijing was strongly dissatisfied by them.

China “has no room for compromise and concession” on core concerns like Taiwan and “will take firm action to safeguard its sovereignty and security interests,” Mr. Wang said. “We do what we say.”

Mr. Biden, in his Monday remarks, stressed that the U.S. remains committed to the bedrock “One China policy,” which recognizes the present rulers as the only legitimate government and acknowledges—but doesn’t endorse—Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is a part of the nation. But the president said that policy doesn’t give China the right to forcefully take over the island.

“We agree with the One China policy and all the attendant agreements we made. But the idea that it can be taken by force, just taken by force, would just not be appropriate,” Mr. Biden said. “It would dislocate the entire region and be another action similar to what happened in Ukraine. So, it’s a burden that is even stronger.”

He also played down the possibility that China would try to take Taiwan.

“My expectation is that it will not happen, it will not be attempted,” Mr. Biden said, adding that it is important for world leaders to send a strong message that there will be consequences if Beijing takes such action.

Taiwan is thankful to the U.S. for its “rock solid” commitment, foreign ministry spokeswoman

Joanne Ou

said.

“Our government’s determination to firmly defend Taiwan’s freedom, democracy and security has never changed, and we will continue to improve self-defense capabilities,” she said in a written statement.

Responding to Mr. Biden’s comment, a White House official underscored the president’s assertion that American policy toward Taiwan hasn’t changed. The official said Mr. Biden was referring to the U.S. obligation to bolster Taipei’s ability to defend itself, which is enshrined in the Taiwan Relations Act.

The act, passed in 1979, portrays any attempt to determine Taiwan’s political future through anything other than peaceful means as a threat to American interests. Congress is committed to selling defensive weapons to Taiwan, but Washington has previously avoided saying whether it would intervene directly in the event of an invasion.

That stance, often referred to in policy circles as strategic ambiguity, is intended to make it so that neither Taipei nor Beijing feels confident enough to make moves that would upset the status quo.

Mr. Biden’s Asia trip was intended to show that Washington is still focused on countering China when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is getting more public attention. His suggestion of a stiffer line on Taiwan, even if played down by aides, supported his stance that the U.S. isn’t distracted by the Ukraine war and is boosting Asian alliances.

U.S. ally Japan, which long shied away from military commitments in the region, more recently has been at the leading edge of a more assertive posture on Taiwan, making the location of Mr. Biden’s comments significant. Standing next to the president, Prime Minister

Fumio Kishida

said in response to a question on Taiwan that he would work with the U.S. to ensure no one in East Asia could imitate what Russia did to Ukraine.

“We will dramatically strengthen our military,” Mr. Kishida said.

A key backer of the Kishida government, former Prime Minister

Shinzo Abe,

in April called for the U.S. to abandon strategic ambiguity on Taiwan. South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and Mr. Biden named Taiwan as a security concern after meeting Saturday, a reference the two countries had long refrained from including in joint statements.

Mr. Biden has committed the U.S. to protecting Taiwan in the event of an invasion on previous occasions. In an August interview with ABC News about the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, Mr. Biden included Taiwan on a list of allies he said the U.S. was duty-bound to defend.

At a CNN Town Hall event in October, he responded to a question about the U.S. defending Taiwan by saying, “Yes, we have a commitment to do that.” In both instances, White House officials later said U.S. policy on Taiwan hadn’t changed.

The island is a global flashpoint akin to Ukraine, but with the potential to set off an even more destructive conflict. While there are no signs that war is imminent, China has stepped up military activity in the region in response to what it calls Taiwan independence provocations—and Beijing is expanding its nuclear arsenal.

Su Tzu-yun, a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, which is backed by the Taiwanese military, said Mr. Biden’s repeated comments and statements about Taiwan by U.S. allies marked a shift.

“The U.S. is moving toward ‘constructive clarity’ from its so-called strategic ambiguity,” Mr. Su said. He called Mr. Biden’s remarks critical to deterring China’s military ambitions.

The president also addressed the American economy at the news conference, pushing back on concerns that the U.S. may be facing a recession amid high inflation and rising interest rates. He pointed to progress that has been achieved on his watch, including low unemployment.

Asked if a recession is inevitable, Mr. Biden said, “No.” He pointed to projections that the U.S. will grow at a faster rate than China for the first time in four decades.

“We have problems that the rest of the world has, but less consequential than the rest of the world has because of our internal growth and strength,” he said.

Mr. Biden said gasoline prices in the U.S. are bad and affecting a lot of families, but cited his administration’s decision earlier this spring to release up to a million barrels of oil a day from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

The president said he would soon discuss with Treasury Secretary

Janet Yellen

whether to lift some U.S. tariffs placed on Chinese goods during the Trump administration, a move that could lower prices for American consumers.

Mr. Biden said the U.S. is monitoring the global outbreak of the monkey pox virus but said the public shouldn’t panic. He said he didn’t expect Americans would need to quarantine to protect themselves against the virus.

“I just don’t think it rises to the level of the kind of concern that existed with Covid-19,” the president said. He added that he thinks the U.S. has enough reserves of smallpox vaccine, which is thought to be effective in preventing monkey pox.

—Joyu Wang contributed to this article.

Write to Andrew Restuccia at andrew.restuccia@wsj.com, Ken Thomas at ken.thomas@wsj.com and Josh Chin at josh.chin@wsj.com