NEW YORK -- U.S. President Joe Biden's nominee for ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns, spoke harshly of Beijing at his Senate confirmation hearing Wednesday but endorsed Washington's long-standing "One China" policy and so-called strategic ambiguity regarding Taiwan as effective.
Strategic ambiguity has for decades meant that Taipei cannot be sure whether America will come to its defense if China mounts an attack on the island -- but also that Beijing cannot be sure that it won't. This deters China from taking action in the Taiwan Strait, supporters of the policy say.
