Taiwan’s defense ministry reported on Wednesday that a group of Chinese ships, led by the carrier the Shandong, was spotted in the waters off the island’s southeast coast. This comes on the same day that President Tsai Ing-wen was scheduled to meet with U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in Los Angeles. China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has warned of unspecified retaliation if the meeting goes ahead. Last August, China conducted war games around Taiwan following the visit to Taipei of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The Chinese ships were said to be going for training in the Western Pacific, and Taiwanese naval and air forces closely monitored them. The defense ministry stated that “such actions are by no means the acts of a responsible modern country.” China has yet to comment on the carrier group, whose appearance also coincided with the arrival in Beijing of French President Emmanuel Macron.
