Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,
There is an ongoing debate between centrist Democrats and progressives in Washington over giving President Biden war powers to go to war with China in the case that Beijing invades Taiwan,
Foreign Policy reported on Wednesday.
The centrists are
in favor of expanding Biden’s authorities even though any military action against China risks nuclear war, while the progressives favor the current policy. One Democrat in the House, Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA), the House Foreign Affairs Committee vice-chair, made the case to give Biden the war powers in an op-ed for
The Washington Post.
Luria’s concern is that if China moves to take Taiwan, getting authorization from Congress would take too long. "So if you can’t act quickly enough, China overwhelmingly takes Taiwan," she told
Foreign Policy.
Luria frames the need for authorization to fight China as necessary to "de-escalate" the situation despite the obvious risks. "Without the ability for the president to
react immediately, any delay would prevent the United States from responding, at a lower level of conflict, to repel an invasion and de-escalate the situation," she wrote in the
Post.
Republican hawks have already drawn up legislation that would give Biden the authority to go to war with China over Taiwan. "My Republican colleagues introduced the Taiwan Invasion Prevention Act in February to grant the president the
authority to act against an invasion of Taiwan and prevent a fait accompli. This act is a good starting point to address a legal dilemma," Luria said in the
Post.
The Taiwan Invasion Prevention Act would authorize "the President to use the Armed Forces to defend Taiwan against a direct attack by China’s military, a taking of Taiwan’s territory by China, or a threat that endangers the lives of civilians in Taiwan or members of Taiwan’s military."
Matt Duss, an aide to Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT), told
Foreign policy that the current policy of not committing to defending Taiwan, known as "strategic ambiguity," shouldn’t be changed.