On Tuesday, amid Chinese rage over U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her visit to the island, four American warships, including an aircraft carrier, were positioned in the waters east of Taiwan on what the U.S. Navy called normal deployments.
A U.S. Navy official informed Reuters that the carrier USS Ronald Reagan had crossed the South China Sea and was now south of Japan, east of Taiwan, and in the Philippines Sea.
The guided-missile cruiser USS Antietam and the destroyer USS Higgins are operating beside the Reagan, which is headquartered in Japan.
The official, who spoke on anonymity, said that while they are prepared for anything, these deployments are common and routine.
In specific areas, they will not comment.
According to the official, USS Tripoli, an amphibious assault ship, was also nearby.
As the United States declared it would not be frightened by Chinese warnings over the visit, Pelosi, a long-time opponent of China, was set to arrive in Taipei later on Tuesday, according to persons briefed on the situation.
Before Pelosi’s arrival, there were indications of military action on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
‘Chinese vessels approaching’
A source briefed on the situation told Reuters that multiple Chinese vessels had remained close to the unofficial dividing line since Monday and Chinese planes had flown near it on Tuesday morning.
Requests for a response from China’s foreign and defense ministries were not immediately fulfilled.
The source claimed that while Taiwanese aircraft were nearby on standby, Chinese aircraft frequently made provocative tactical maneuvers by briefly “touching” the median line and then circling back to the opposite side of the strait.
The source claimed that on Tuesday in the waters east of Taiwan, three additional Chinese warships conducted maneuvers simulating attacks on aircraft carriers. According to the Japanese Defense Forces, the ships were observed passing through the southern islands of Japan during the weekend.
Usually, neither side’s aircraft crosses the median.
According to the Defence Ministry of Taiwan, it would dispatch forces as necessary in response to “enemy threats.”
From Tuesday morning through Thursday midday, the ministry increased its combat alertness level, according to a report from the official Central News Agency that cited unnamed sources.
The People’s Liberation Army has been engaging in various maneuvers, including live fire drills, in South China, Yellow, and Bohai Seas since last week.
Even while neither side desires a real battle, higher deployments during tense times, according to some regional military strategists, increase the likelihood of accidents.
