Staff Reports
China reportedly increased military installations near Taiwan as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's plane approached the contested island.
Chinese airplanes briefly touched the unofficial dividing line between Taiwanese and Chinese waters Tuesday, Reuters reported, citing an anonymous source. Several Chinese vessels cruised into Taiwanese seas Tuesday morning to "provoke" the middle line.
The Chinese Communist Party should be punished for threatening war. Jacqueline Deal, senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute and president and CEO of the Long Term Strategy Group, told the Daily Caller News Foundation “The Chinese Communist Party is raising the specter of war and should be punished for doing so…. We need to act in such a way that the CCP sees that its security has been degraded, not improved, because it threatened the Speaker,”
Reuters reports that while the jets left, the Chinese ships remain.
Latest footage circulating on Chinese social media WeChat shows armoured vehicles on the move in the southern Chinese city of Xiamen, as US Speaker Pelosi is reportedly heading to Taipei. pic.twitter.com/ePpJsO2VyM
— Bang Xiao 萧邦 (@BangXiao_) August 2, 2022
Tuesday, Chinese social media users posted videos of tanks and personnel marching from Xiamen to Fujian's Taiwan Strait shore. Reuters couldn't confirm the reports.
Taiwan's government website was down Tuesday owing to an offshore cyberattack, Reuters said.
Reuters reports that Taiwan's military ministry identified plane activity in the strait on Monday and said it will mobilize to confront "enemy threats."
Chinese coast guard warships entered Japan's territorial waters Monday, a representative for the 11th Regional Headquarters informed Stars and Stripes.
Reuters reports that Pelosi's plane will land in Taiwan at 10 p.m. local time Wednesday. She will meet with Taiwanese leaders, including President Tsai Ing-wen. Taiwan's presidential office wouldn't comment on Pelosi's visit.
Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Zhao Lijian said Monday, “We are closely following the itinerary of Speaker Pelosi”. “A visit to Taiwan by her would … greatly threaten peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, severely undermine China-US relations and lead to a very serious situation and grave consequences.”
“We will not take the bait or engage in sabre rattling. At the same time, we will not be intimidated,” White House spokesman John Kirby said at a briefing Monday.
The White House and Pentagon warned Pelosi against the trip, fearing it may spark a war with China. U.S. ships in the strait include an aircraft carrier and an amphibious ship.
China held live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait on Saturday, CNN reported.
Chinese Embassy, Foreign Ministry, Defense Ministry, and Pelosi's office did not immediately answer to DCNF's demands for comment.
The preceding is a summary of an article that originally appeared on Daily Caller.
