The White House on Friday desperately sought to calm the waters after Joe Biden blundered over US policy on Taiwan.
Officials clarified there was no change in policy after Mr Biden, in a live television event, promised to defend the island from Chinese attack.
In the CNN town hall Mr Biden was asked if the US would come to Taiwan's defence if China invaded. He replied, "Yes. We have a commitment to that."
The President appeared to be shifting Washington’s delicate longtime policy of “strategic ambiguity" with regard to Taiwan.
However, a White House official later said: "The president was not announcing any change in our policy and there is no change in our policy,"
In her press conference, Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, was forced to repeatedly make clear there had been no change in US policy.
When asked if the policy on Taiwan had shifted Ms Psaki said: "There has been no shift, the President was not announcing any change in our policy, nor has he made a decision to change our policy. There is no change in our policy."
Asked if Mr Biden's "unambiguous" sounding response had been "intentional," she said: "What I can convey to you is our policy has not changed. He's not intending to convey a change in policy, nor has he made a decision to change our policy."
Asked if the "commitment" Mr Biden spoke about included military intervention, she said: "As I said earlier, he wasn't announcing a change in policy."
Ms Psaki said Lloyd Austin, the defence secretary, had "conveyed clearly" the US policy on Taiwan.
Earlier, Mr Austin declined to discuss "hypotheticals" but said the US "will continue to help Taiwan with the sorts of capabilities that it needs to defend itself."
That policy is guided by the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, in which Congress required the US to provide Taiwan weapons for its own defence, but was ambiguous on whether America would intervene militarily.
Washington has never officially said what it would do in case of conflict. Dispatches
Essential analysis from our foreign reporters
Sign up
Beijing claims Taiwan as its own territory and has significantly increased military and political pressure in recent weeks, pushing tensions to their highest level in decades.
Pentagon officials believe Taiwan is the likeliest trigger for a major conflict in the coming years.
Mr Biden's remarks prompted a furious reaction from Beijing.
