New Delhi: China and the US deployed aircraft carriers in the Taiwan Strait as Beijing’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounced Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s transit visit to the US, news agency PTI reported.
According to the Taiwanese defence ministry, a Chinese naval fleet passed through the Bashi Channel before reaching southeast Taiwan. The carrier was heading to western Pacific, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported on Thursday.
Taiwan's Defence Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng said the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier was also positioned some 400 nautical miles (740.8km) off eastern Taiwan.
"We can't say for sure if (the Nimitz) was there because of the Shandong, but it could be something related to the way it was there," the Post reported.
This comes in the wake of Tsai's meeting with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy amid repeated warnings from Beijing to Washington that it should not go ahead. The two leaders met at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California.
This was the second high-profile meeting between an American official and the island’s leader.
Meanwhile, US urged China to choose 'diplomacy' not 'pressure' on Taiwan, news agency AFP reported.
China also braced for a showdown to highlight its resentment of Pelosi’s successor Kevin McCarthy's meeting with Tsai.
Notably, China is hosting Taiwan's former president Ma Ying-jeou, who is a pro-Beijing politician.
Ma on Wednesday visited a deep-water port in Shanghai as the Chinese navy launched patrols near the island.
The Chinese foreign ministry denounced the Tsai-McCarthy meeting, accusing the US of "providing a podium for Taiwan separatists to carry out official exchanges between US and Taiwan and enhance ties between the US and Taiwan”.
The foreign ministry said Taiwan issues were "the first red line in China-US relations which must not be crossed" and Taiwan independence would "come to a dead end".