The United States Government of President Joseph Biden is taking additional military precautions in case China decides to retaliate after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi went ahead with her plans to visit Taiwan.
The US Navy has the USS Ronald Reagan and her Carrier Strike conducting “routine operations in the South China Sea and Philippine Sea” alongside the amphibious ship USS Tripoli, according to a Pacific Fleet spokeswoman quoted by EFE.
As the relationship between China and the US becomes increasingly unpredictable, Taiwan has become by far the most dangerous source of tension and conflict.
The armada includes the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, the destroyer USS Higgins and the guided missile cruisers USS Antietam and USS Chancellorsville “on a summer patrol deployment,” while the USS Tripoli is conducting “routine operations” in the Philippine Sea.
According to the USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker, the USS America is en route to waters near Taiwan, but is still in the port of Sasebo in Japan.
Although Washington does not recognize Taiwan as an independent state, it has sustainedly provided the island with the means to defend itself.
Meanwhile, Pelosi explained in an editorial published by the Washington Post the rationale behind her journey. She first claimed “the trip doesn’t signal a change in US posture toward the island and urging Beijing to refrain from an aggressive response.”