Soldiers wearing face masks amid the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic listen to an address by Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen during her visit to a military base in Tainan, southern Taiwan, on April 9, 2020. Sam Yeh/AFP/Getty Images/TNS
Tensions between China and Taiwan are escalating, and confusion sparked by President Joe Biden’s recent pledge to defend Taiwan has sent his administration scrambling to assure the international community that’s not necessarily the case.