an explosive report of sex abuse cases inside the southern baptist convention. survivors repeatedly ignored and disbelieved by the largest protestant denomination in the united states as leaders themselves tried to protect their own reputations instead of protecting the victims. welcome to the lead. i m jake tapper. we start with our world lead and top white house advisers caught off guard by this response from president biden when he was asked in a news conference in tokyo if the u.s. would be willing to foe further than it has with ukraine to help taiwan in the event of an invasion. you didn t want to get involved in the ukraine conflict militarily for obvious reasons. are you willing to get involved militarily to defend taiwan if it comes to that? yes. you are? that s the commitment we made. now, president biden didn t specify what he meant by militarily, but the question defined the term as the u.s. military getting directly involved as it has not done in uk
policy. and that the president was referring to a commitment under the taiwan relations act to provide taiwan with the military means to defend itself. china hitting back at biden s remarks in a statement, warning the president to be cautious in words and deeds on the taiwan issue. this not the first time that biden has strongly suggested u.s. military involvement to defend taiwan. are you saying that the united states would come to taiwan s defense if china attacks? yes, we have a commitment to do that. biden, hardly the first u.s. president to take such a position. you have said publicly the u.s. would commit military forces if china attacked taiwan? i will do what it takes to help taiwan defend themselves and the chinese must understand that. the spotlight on taiwan coming as biden pushes for strengthening u.s. alliances in the indo-pacific region, in the face of china s growing influence. in tokyo, the u.s. alongside a dozen other countries, unveiling
a new economic framework. the future of the 21st century economy is going to be largely written in indo-pacific. and our region. we re writing the new rules for the 21st century economy. now, the sun has just started to rise here, as the president kicks off his final day here in asia. later today, he s going to be participating in the quad summit. this is a summit of the leaders of the u.s., japan, australia, and india. he s going to have a couple bilateral meetings as well, and then he heads back to washington, jake, where there are a couple of key issues that are going to be waiting for him, including inflation, the baby formula shortage, and of course, the war in ukraine is going to continue being top of mind for the president as well. jake. m.j. lee in tokyo, thanks. also in the world lead, a russian diplomat handing in his notice saying he s never been so ashamed of his country s actions. the 20-year veteran of russia s
specify what he meant by militarily, but the question defined the term as the u.s. military getting directly involved as it has not done in ukraine, to which biden said yes. the white house rushed to clarify, saying that the biden administration would send weapons, not troops, to help taiwan. but it s a far cry from the delicacy and ambiguity we usually see from u.s. officials when they talk about china and taiwan. this is, we should note, the third time in recent months president biden has said the u.s. would protect taiwan from a chinese attack only for the white house to walk back those remarks. m.j. lee starts off our coverage from tokyo with more on the white house s attempted cleanup and china s forceful response to biden s comments. a consequential one-word response from president biden. making major headlines during his inaugural trip to asia as commander in chief. are you willing to get
an explosive report of sex abuse cases inside the southern baptist convention. survivors repeatedly ignored and disbelieved by the largest protestant denomination in the united states as leaders themselves tried to protect their own reputations instead of protecting the victims. welcome to the lead. i m jake tapper. we start with our world lead and top white house advisers caught off guard by this response from president biden when he was asked in a news conference in tokyo if the u.s. would be willing to foe further than it has with ukraine to help taiwan in the event of an invasion. you didn t want to get involved in the ukraine conflict militarily for obvious reasons. are you willing to get involved militarily to defend taiwan if it comes to that? yes. you are? that s the commitment we made. now, president biden didn t