Biden Rejects Warnings From Top U.S. Officials, Says Chinese Invasion Of Taiwan Not Imminent

On Monday, President Biden said that he does not think foresee an “imminent attempt” by China to invade Taiwan – conflicting with warnings from top U.S. military officials.

Biden made the claim about three hours after his first face-to-face meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

”I do not think there’s any imminent attempt on the part of China to invade Taiwan,” Biden told reporters. “And I made it clear that our policy in Taiwan has not changed at all.”

“It’s the same exact position we’ve had. I made it clear that we want to see cross-strait issues peacefully resolved… we’re committed to maintaining the peace and stability in Taiwan Strait,” the president said, adding that he believed Xi “understood exactly what I was saying. I understood what he was saying.”

Biden – who has been criticized for being “wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades” by the former Obama administration’s defense secretary Robert Gates – appears to be disagreeing with warnings from top U.S. military officials and other experts based on a brief conversation with Xi.

In October, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday warned that China could invade Taiwan by the end of this year.

“It’s not just what [Chinese] President Xi [Jinping] says, it’s how the Chinese behave and what they do. And what we’ve seen over the past 20 years is that they have delivered on every promise they’ve made earlier than they said they were going to deliver on it,” Gilday said during an event held by the Atlantic Council.

Gilday continued, “So when we talk about the 2027 window” for an invasion of Taiwan, referencing a previous prediction made by Adm. Phil Davidson last year, “in my mind, that has to be a 2022 window or potentially a 2023 window.”

“Combatant commanders have talked about different timeframes, but it’s a very real thing,” Gilday said of the threat of an imminent attempt by China to invade Taiwan.