US boosts presence in Taiwan Strait
TAIPEI: As United States House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi headed to Taiwan last night amid intensifying warnings from China, four US warships, including an aircraft carrier, were positioned in waters east of the island on ‘‘routine’’ deployments.
The carrier USS Ronald Reagan had transited the South China Sea and was currently in the Philippines Sea, east of Taiwan and the Philippines and south of Japan, a US Navy official confirmed yesterday.
The Japanbased Reagan is operating with a guided missile cruiser, USS Antietam, and a destroyer, USS Higgins.
The official said the amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli was also in the area as part of a deployment to the region that started in early May from its home port of San Diego.
Pelosi, a longtime China critic, was expected to arrive in Taipei late last night, as the US said it would not be intimidated by Chinese ‘‘sabre rattling’’ over the visit.
Confirmation of the deployments comes as signs emerge of military activity on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
In addition to Chinese planes flying close to the median line of the sensitive waterway yesterday morning, several Chinese warships had remained close to the unofficial dividing line since Monday, a source told Reuters.
The source said both Chinese warships and aircraft ‘‘squeezed’’ the median line yesterday morning, an unusual move the person described as ‘‘very provocative.’’
The person said the Chinese aircraft repeatedly conducted tactical moves of briefly ‘‘touching’’ the median line and circling back to the other side of the strait, while Taiwanese aircraft were on standby nearby.
Neither side’s aircraft normally cross the median line.
In a statement yesterday, Taiwan’s defence ministry said it has a full grasp of military activities near Taiwan and would appropriately dispatch forces in reaction to ‘‘enemy threats’’.
In the southeastern Chinese city of Xiamen, which lies opposite Taiwan and is home to a large military presence, residents reported seeing armoured vehicles on the move yesterday and posted pictures online.
Chinese social media was abuzz with both trepidation about potential conflict and patriotic fervour over the prospect of unification with Taiwan, and the topic of Pelosi’s visit was the toptrending item on Weibo.
One person familiar with Pelosi’s itinerary said most of her planned meetings, including with Taiwanese President Tsai Ingwen, were scheduled for today.
Pelosi visited Malaysia yesterday, having begun her Asia tour in Singapore on Monday.
Her office said she would also go to South Korea and Japan, but made no mention of a Taiwan visit.
Taiwan’s foreign ministry said it had no comment on reports of Pelosi’s travel plans, but the White House — which would not confirm the trip — said she had the right to go.
Beijing’s responses could include firing missiles near Taiwan, largescale air or naval activities, or further ‘‘spurious legal claims’’ such as China’s assertion that the Taiwan Strait is not an international waterway, On Monday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said it would be ‘‘a gross interference in China’s internal affairs’’ if Pelosi visited Taiwan, and warned ‘‘the Chinese People’s Liberation Army will never sit idly by’’.
Asked what kind of measures the PLA might take, Zhao said: ‘‘if she dares to go, then let us wait and see’’. — Reuters