NEW YORK, June 4. /TASS/. US President Joe Biden in an interview with Time magazine did not rule out the use of the US armed forces to defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion.

"Not ruling out using US military force. There’s a distinction between deploying on the ground, air power and naval power," he said.

Biden declined to say if the US would be making strikes from its bases in the Philippines or Japan.

"I can’t get into that. You would then criticize me with good reason if I were to tell you," the president said.

The US severed diplomatic relations with Taipei in 1979 and established them with the PRC. Even as it’s committed to the One China policy, Washington continues to maintain contact with the self-governing island and ranks as its biggest supplier of weapons.

Currently, the backlog of contracts to supply US arms to the island is valued at about $19 billion. The value of US military supplies to Taiwan over the recent years surpassed $70 billion, the Chinese Foreign Ministry estimated.

Taiwan has been governed by its local administration since 1949 when the Kuomintang’s remaining forces headed by Chiang Kai-shek were defeated in the Chinese Civil War and took refuge on the island. China regards the island as one of its provinces.