TAIPEI/BEIJING: Taiwan was keeping a close watch on a Chinese aircraft carrier and threats to inspect ships in the Taiwan Strait on Thursday (Apr 6) after Beijing condemned a meeting between Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen and US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
McCarthy – the third highest ranking official in the US leadership hierarchy – and other Republican and Democratic lawmakers met Tsai on Wednesday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.
The meeting took place at a low ebb of US-China relations and despite threats of retaliation from Beijing, which claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own.
The Chinese carrier, the Shandong, was spotted on Wednesday and was currently 200 nautical miles off Taiwan’s east coast, Taiwan Defence Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng told reporters at parliament in Taipei.
“It is training but the timing is quite sensitive, and what it is up to we are still studying,” Chiu said, adding aircraft had yet to be seen taking off from its deck.
He later told lawmakers the ship was east of the very southern tip of Taiwan, and Taiwanese warships were monitoring it at a distance of five to six nautical miles.
China has sailed its aircraft carriers near to Taiwan before and at similarly sensitive times.
In March of last year, the Shandong sailed through the Taiwan Strait, just hours before the Chinese and US presidents were due to talk.
China staged war games around Taiwan last August after then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei.