US deploys warship to ward off China before Taiwan vote

THE United States deployed an aircraft carrier east of Taiwan ahead of a pivotal election that China framed as a decision between war and peace, according to Taiwanese media reports.

The voyage of the USS Carl Vinson in Pacific waters close to Taiwan last week was designed to serve as a deterrent to China, which had warned voters to “make the right choice” or risk triggering a cross-strait conflict, said Taiwanese defence experts.

The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier’s deployment was meant as a “strategic precaution”, Shen Ming-shih and Su Tzu-yun from Taiwan’s Institute for National Defence and Security Research, told the country’s Central News Agency (CNA).

The USS Carl Vinson was reported by the Beijing-based South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative to be east of Taiwan after departing from the Philippines.

Dr Shen said the US would be able to use the carrier group to closely monitor the movements of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to respond to any possible action in a timely manner.

The USS Ronald Reagan, another Nimitz-class, nuclear-powered supercarrier has also been stationed at Japan’s Yokosuka naval base since November.

Taiwan’s voters on Saturday delivered a clear rejection of Beijing’s territorial claims over their homeland by selecting Lai Ching-te, from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party as their new president.

The victory, which champions Taiwan’s de facto sovereignty and separate identity, signalled an entrenched China-scepticism among the population, the vast majority of whom dismiss Beijing’s unification demands.

Despite its fiery rhetoric ahead of the Taiwanese elections, the Chinese Communist Party’s response to the election of a politician it considers a dangerous separatist has been relatively muted so far. Chen Binhua, from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, claimed the results, where Mr Lai won 40.1 per cent of the vote, could not represent mainstream public opinion.

On Sunday, the Chinese embassy in Tokyo hit out at the Japanese government after Yoko Kamikawa, the foreign minister, congratulated Mr Lai, calling Taiwan “an extremely crucial partner and an important friend”.

The message had been a “serious interference in China’s internal affairs”, the embassy said.