- A US aircraft carrier and its strike group are currently operating in the South China Sea.
- The vessels were moved to the area amid tensions between China and the US.
- China has signaled it could take military action if House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visits Taiwan.
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A US aircraft carrier and its strike group are now in the South China Sea in what could potentially turn into a tense standoff in hotly contested waters near Taiwan.
Speaking to Insider on Wednesday evening, US Navy spokesman Mark Langford confirmed that the ships were underway and operating in the South China Sea.
The aircraft carrier departed Singapore after a scheduled port visit on 22 July.
According to Langford, the carrier “continues normal, scheduled operations as part of its routine patrol in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific.”
The news comes less than a day after a report emerged that the Pentagon was preparing to protect Speaker Nancy Pelosi with warplanes and ships if she visited Taiwan.
Pelosi was scheduled to travel to the island in April. However, the trip was postponed after she tested positive for COVID-19.
According to The Financial Times, Pelosi is expected to visit the island in August.
Meanwhile, China warned this week of a possible military response if Pelosi’s trip goes ahead.
“If the US insists on pursuing its own course, China’s military will never sit idly by and will definitely take decisive action to thwart any foreign power’s interference,” said Senior Col. Tang Kefei, a spokesman for China’s defense ministry.
If Pelosi does visit Taiwan, she would be the most senior US official to visit the island since Republican Newt Gingrich made the trip in 1997.
The opportunity for Pelosi to visit Taiwan comes at a tense time. China has become more aggressive with Taiwan, flying more warplanes near the island and even deploying an armada of sand dredgers to scoop sand from Taiwan’s coast in June 2021.
The US generally views Taiwan with “strategic ambiguity” – not recognizing its independence while providing it with weapons. CIA chief Bill Burns this month also commented that China would likely learn from Russia’s failures in Ukraine and calibrate the “how and when” of a potential invasion of the island.
Meanwhile, Chinese leader Xi Jinping has said repeatedly that China should reunite with Taiwan, which it considers a breakaway province.
Although Pelosi’s Taiwan trip has not been confirmed, she is scheduled to visit Japan, Indonesia and Singapore
Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan has not yet been confirmed, but other stops such as Japan, Indonesia and Singapore are being considered for her Asia tour next month, according to Bloomberg.
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