In Washington, there is a debate between centrist Democrats and progressives about giving President Biden war powers that would allow him to go to war with China in the event of Beijing invading Taiwan, Foreign Policy reports on Wednesday.
Centrists advocate extending Biden's powers, even if any military action against China threatens with nuclear war, while progressives support the current policy.
One of the Democrats in the House, Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA), vice-chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, presented the arguments for granting Biden war powers in an article for The Washington Post.
Luria is concerned that if China goes so far as to capture Taiwan, it will take too long to obtain approval from Congress. "So if you can't move fast enough, China overwhelmingly takes over Taiwan," Foreign Policy said.
Luria presents the need for authorization to fight China as necessary to "de-escalate" the situation despite the obvious risks. "Without the president's ability to react immediately, any delay would prevent the United States from responding, at a lower level of the conflict, to repel the invasion and de-escalate the situation," the Post wrote.
Republican hawks have already prepared legislation that would give Biden the authority to go to war with China over Taiwan. "My Republican colleagues enacted the Taiwan Invasion Prevention Act in February to authorize the president to act against the invasion of Taiwan and prevent fait accompli. This law is a good starting point for resolving the legal dilemma," Luria said in Post.
The Taiwan Invasion Prevention Act would authorize "the president to use military force to defend Taiwan against direct attack by Chinese troops, the seizure of Taiwan by China, or a threat that threatens the lives of Taiwan's civilians or members of the Taiwanese military."
Matt Duss, adjutant of Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT), told Foreign Policy that the current policy of failure to defend Taiwan, known as "strategic ambiguity", should not be changed.
"The ambiguity policy may not be the most emotionally satisfying for DC hawks, but it works," said Duss. "The dangers of creating another open authorization for war should be obvious."
A renewed debate was sparked by China's recent flights into Taiwan's Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), which were misrepresented by Western media as airspace violations. ADIZ is an area where a country wants foreign planes to identify themselves. The concept is not covered by any international laws or treaties, and Chinese warplanes usually fly into the southwest corner of ADIZ, nowhere near the island of Taiwan.
Most reports of flights over China's ADIZ lack information on how much the US has increased its military activity in the region. Beijing's actions around Taiwan are clearly fueled by the US presence and Washington's steps to strengthen ties with Taipei. A change of policy in the form of the authorization of war powers would only increase tension in the region and increase the likelihood of a conflict breaking out.