President Biden stressed Tuesday that his policy toward Taiwan had not changed, one day after forcefully pledging — as he has done before — that the United States would defend the island if it came under assault by neighboring China.

At a meeting here of leaders from the United States, India, Australia and Japan, Biden was asked to elaborate on his unequivocal remarks that were an apparent change to long-standing U.S. policy of deliberately staying unclear about what it would do in such a scenario, a principle known as “strategic ambiguity.”

President Joe Biden insisted Tuesday that the U.S. hasn’t changed its strategic policy on Taiwan, a day after he angered Beijing when he said his administration would be willing to use military force to defend the island.

Biden met with leaders from Japan, India and Australia at their second so-called Quad Leaders’ Summit, which wrapped up Tuesday in Tokyo.

President Joe Biden appearing at odds with his administration for the third time regarding China and Taiwan reverberated around Washington and Beijing.

Despite the White House trying to downplay the differences, Biden intentionally or unintentionally renewed the foreign policy debate over "strategic ambiguity" in the Taiwan Strait at a time when U.S.-China relations are at a nadir and Russia wages war in Ukraine.