Four U.S. warships, including an aircraft carrier, were positioned in waters east of Taiwan on what the U.S. Navy called routine deployments on Tuesday amid Chinese anger over U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit the island.
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 U.S. Navy official told o Reuters.
Pelosi, a long-time China critic, was expected to arrive in Taipei later on Tuesday, people briefed on the matter said, as the United States said it would not be intimidated by Chinese warnings over the visit.Signs emerged of military activity on both sides of the Taiwan Strait ahead of Pelosi's visit.
The person said three other Chinese warships on Tuesday carried out drills to simulate attacks on carrier-borne aircraft in waters east of Taiwan. The ships had been tracked sailing through Japan's southern islands at the weekend, the Japanese Defence Forces said.Taiwan's Defense Ministry said it would appropriately send forces in reaction to "enemy threats".
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