U.S., Chinese Forces Flex Military Muscle as Pelosi Visits Taiwan

• Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi landed in Taiwan on Tuesday as anticipated, creating a diplomatic crisis between the United States and China.

• The Chinese military deployed amphibious tanks to the country’s beaches and sent a large number of fighter planes into the Taiwan Strait, while the United States positioned a carrier strike group near Taiwan.

• Taiwanese military forces, on the other hand, remained fairly quiet.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s high-profile visit to Taiwan on Tuesday resulted in both the United States and China positioning military forces in the region. The Air Force jet carrying Pelosi touched down in Taiwan on Monday night, and a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier quietly positioned itself to the south of the island. Meanwhile, Chinese military forces staged their own show of force, parading tracked fighting vehicles on beaches, sending fighter jets nearby, and surrounding the island with military exercises.

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Speaker Pelosi, the third-highest ranked official in the U.S. government, flew from the continental United States to Hawaii over the weekend, the first stop on her Asian tour. Pelosi and her entourage traveled in an Air Force C-40 Clipper, a military VIP transport based on the Boeing 737NG commercial transport. After a stopover to visit the USS Arizona memorial, Pelosi traveled on to Asia where she planned to visit Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, and Japan. Pelosi’s official itinerary did not mention a visit to Taiwan, though she was widely expected to make a stop.

The C-40 transport, call sign SPAR19, first traveled to Malaysia. After a stop in Kuala Lumpur, the plane turned north and flew toward Taiwan. The website Flightradar24, which allows people from around the world to check a flight’s progress based on an airplane’s ADS-B transponder signal, noted that 708,000 people watched SPAR19 fly to the island, making the transport the most-tracked plane in the history of the website.

Pelosi’s plane touched down in Taiwan without incident.

The United States took no overt steps to protect her flight. U.S. Naval Institute News reports the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan was in position in the Philippine Sea, south of Taiwan, as the flight took place. The Japan-based carrier was escorted by the guided-missile cruiser USS Antietam and guided-missile destroyer Higgins. USNI News also reports the amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli is in the area, with 20 Marine Corps F-35B strike fighters embarked. Although the Reagan operates frequently in the Philippine Sea, its presence in the area at this particular moment is probably not a coincidence.

China opposed the visit and vowed a “forceful response” if it took place. The People’s Liberation Army, the umbrella organization for the entire Chinese military (similar to “the Pentagon” in the United States), flew 21 aircraft into the Taiwan Strait on Tuesday. The aircraft included eight J-11 fighters, 11 J-16 fighters, one KJ-500 airborne early warning aircraft (similar to an American E-2D Hawkeye), one Y-9 electronic warfare aircraft, and one Y-8 electronic intelligence-gathering aircraft. According to Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense, which posted the announcement above, the Chinese aircraft flew a straight line toward Taiwan and turned around just after reaching the median line to the island.

In addition to the show of force by military aircraft, People’s Liberation Army Ground Force (Chinese army) and People’s Liberation Army Navy Marine Corps (Chinese marines) vehicles were reportedly paraded in Fujian province, the closest province to Taiwan. At least a dozen Chinese ZTD-05 amphibious fighting vehicles were paraded on a crowded beach in Fujian, a potential hazard to beachgoers. Video posted to Chinese social media sites purported to show Chinese military equipment on a train in Fujian. The movement of hardware could be a show of force … but it could also be a normal military exercise and have nothing to do with Pelosi’s visit.

China’s nationalist Global Times tabloid also announced the People’s Liberation Army would commence live-fire exercises around Taiwan. The six exercise areas basically surround the island, leaving little doubt the intent is to intimidate the island’s citizens and political leaders.

Taiwan’s military has been relatively quiet throughout the exercise. The island recently wrapped up its annual Han Kuang military exercises, meant to exercise military forces that would resist an invasion from the mainland. The Military of Defense’s Twitter feed didn’t even mention Pelosi’s visit.

Taiwan as a political entity was created in 1949, when the defeated Chinese Nationalists evacuated to the island at the conclusion of the Chinese Civil War. Today, Taiwan calls itself the Republic of China, while the People’s Republic of China, established by the Chinese Communist Party, exercises control over the mainland. The United States recognizes the People’s Republic as the sole legal government of China, but has also vowed to defend Taiwan if it is attacked, a position most recently affirmed by President Joe Biden. China dislikes what it considers American meddling and has not ruled out taking the island by force.

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