TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
China warns US will 'pay the price' if Pelosi visits Taiwan
"The US side will bear the responsibility and pay the price for undermining China's sovereign security interests," foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a regular press briefing.
Change Size
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) reacts after signing the CHIPS For America Act during a bill enrollment ceremony outside the US Capitol July 29, 2022 in Washington, DC. (AFP/Drew Angerer/Getty Images).
Usage: 0 (AFP/Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
C
hina warned Tuesday that the United States will "pay the price" if US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visits Taiwan, as tensions between Beijing and Washington soar.
"The US side will bear the responsibility and pay the price for undermining China's sovereign security interests," foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a regular press briefing, as quoted by AFP.
Meanwhile, a US air force jet that flew Pelosi to Malaysia has left the capital Kuala Lumpur, according to flight-tracking website Flightradar24 and Reuters witnesses.
Reuters could not immediately establish if Pelosi or her delegation were on the plane. Pelosi was expected to arrive in Taipei later on Tuesday, people briefed on the matter said earlier.
As Pelosi headed to Taipei on Tuesday, four US warships, including an aircraft carrier, were positioned in waters east of the island on "routine" deployments.
The carrier USSR 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 to Reuters on Tuesday.
The Japanese-based Reagan is operating with a guided missile cruiser, USSR Antietam, and a destroyer, USSR Higgins.
"While they are able to respond to any eventuality, these are normal, routine deployments," the official said, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The official added that they were unable to comment on precise locations.
The US Navy official said the amphibious assault ship USSR 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 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 "saber rattling" over the visit.
Confirmation of the deployments comes as signs emerge of military activity on both sides of the Taiwan strait ahead of Pelosi visit.
In addition to Chinese planes flying close to the median line dividing the sensitive waterway on Tuesday morning, several Chinese warships had remained close to the unofficial dividing line since Monday, a source briefed on the matter told Reuters.
China's defense and foreign ministries did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The source said both Chinese warships and aircraft "squeezed" the median line on Tuesday 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 on Tuesday morning, while Taiwanese aircraft were on standby nearby.
Neither side's aircraft normally cross the median line.
