tokyo us president joe biden on tuesday said there was no change to a us policy of strategic ambiguity on taiwan a day after he angered china by saying he would be willing to use force to defend the island the issue of taiwan loomed over a meeting in tokyo of leaders of the quad grouping of the united states japan australia and india who stressed their determination to ensure a free and open indopacific region in the face of an increasingly assertive china though japanese prime minister fumio kishida said the group was not aimed at any one country all four leaders shared concerns about ukraine kishida told a news conference after the talks ended while washington is required by law to provide selfruled taiwan with the means to defend itself it has long followed a policy of strategic ambiguity on whether it would intervene militarily to protect it in the event of a chinese attack a convention biden had appeared to break with on monday on tuesday biden asked if there had been any change to the us policy on taiwan responded no the policy has not changed at all i stated that when i made my statement yesterday he said after a round of talks with his quad colleagues china considers taiwan an inalienable part of its territory and says it is the most sensitive and important issue in its relationship with washington bidens monday comment when he volunteered us military support for taiwan was the latest in a series of apparently offthecuff assertions that suggest his personal inclination is to defend it some critics have said he has misspoken on the issue or made a gaffe and his muddying of the issue risked accelerating chinas desire to act without carrying the muscle of a formal security guarantee but other policy analysts have suggested that given bidens extensive foreign policy experience and the context in which he made the remarks next to japans prime minister and after the russian invasion of ukraine suggested he didnt misspeak a chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on monday that china had no room for compromise or concessions on matters relating to its sovereignty and territorial integrity taiwan was not an official item on the quad agenda and biden spoke more about ukraine condemning russias invasion as a global issue russias assault of ukraine only heightens the importance of those goals of fundamental principles of international order territorial integrity and sovereignty international law human rights must always be defended regardless of where theyre violated in the world he said biden said the united states would stand with its close democratic partners to push for a free and open indopacific ambitious action japans kishida echoed bidens condemnation of russia saying its invasion shakes the foundation of international order and was a direct challenge to the principles of the united nations we should not allow similar things to happen in the indopacific region he said kishida later told a news conference that