The US would militarily defend Taiwan against an attack, US President Joe Biden has said — marking the second time the president appears to have strayed from the official US policy of not explicitly saying whether it would come to Taiwan’s defense if China were to invade the island. The Biden administration was forced to clarify that it has made no change to its policy of “strategic ambiguity” over Taiwan, after the president said the country could intervene militarily “if there was an unprecedented attack," in an interview Sunday with CBS News (watch, runtime: 00:53). Tensions have been escalating between the US and China over the status of Taiwan, with Beijing stepping up military drills around the island in response to US House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit last month.

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