China and the US showed off their naval power by putting aircraft carriers in the Taiwan Strait. This is a narrow waterway that separates the Chinese mainland from Taiwan. Beijing was angry about the US House Speaker meeting with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in Washington.
The Taiwanese Defense Ministry said that a Chinese naval force led by the Shandong aircraft carrier went through the Bashi Channel, which runs between Taiwan and the Philippines, before reaching waters southeast of Taiwan.
The carrier was on its way to its first exercises in the western Pacific, the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong said on Thursday.
Chiu Kuo-cheng, Taiwan’s Minister of Defense, said that the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier was about 400 nautical miles (740.8 km) off the east coast of Taiwan. The Post said, “We can’t say for sure that the Nimitz was there because of the Shandong, but the way it was there could have something to do with it.” Tsai’s meeting with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy happened even though Beijing had warned Washington many times.
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