Kuala Lumpur/Taipei, August 2
A US Air Force plane that may include House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi among its passengers entered the final leg of its journey to Taiwan after departing from Malaysia and taking an extended route that skirted the South China Sea.
Reuters could not immediately establish if Pelosi or her delegation were on flight SPAR19. Pelosi did not confirm if she was visiting the self-governed island, which Beijing claims as its own, but sources earlier told Reuters she was expected to arrive in Taiwan’s capital Taipei later on Tuesday.
The plane left Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur at 3.42 pm (0742 GMT) on Tuesday and flew east toward Borneo on a route that skirted the South China Sea.
It was last seen north of the Philippines, according to Flightradar24, in the tracking site’s most followed flight on Tuesday.
Since last week, China’s People’s Liberation Army has conducted various exercises, including live-fire drills, in the South China Sea, Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea, in a show of Chinese military might.
A visit to Taiwan by Pelosi, who is second in the line of succession to the US presidency and a long-time critic of China, would come amid worsening ties between Washington and Beijing.
As of 1354 GMT, SPAR19 was about 500 km southeast of Taipei in a journey that has so far lasted more than five hours, according to Flightradar24, on a flight tracked by as many as 300,000 people on its website earlier in the day.
A normal flight from Kuala Lumpur to Taiwan’s capital of Taipei would cross the South China Sea, with a typical flight time of under five hours.
Meanwhile, Chinese warplanes buzzed the line dividing the Taiwan Strait on Tuesday shortly before the expected arrival in Taipei of US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi for a visit that has pushed friction between Washington and Beijing to a new level.
The Chinese leadership has repeatedly warned against Pelosi, a long-time critic of Beijing, making a trip to self-ruled Taiwan, which China claims as its own.
In the latest rhetorical salvo, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Tuesday that US politicians who “play with fire” on the Taiwan issue will “come to no good end”.
The United States said on Monday it would not be intimidated by what it called Chinese “sabre rattling”.
Most of Pelosi’s planned meetings, including with President Tsai Ing-wen, were scheduled for Wednesday, a person familiar with her itinerary said.
Taiwan’s foreign ministry said it had no comment on reports of Pelosi’s travel plans, while her office has also kept silent.
On Tuesday night, Taiwan’s tallest building, Taipei 101, lit up with messages including: “Welcome to Taiwan”, “Speaker Pelosi”, “Taiwan (heart) USA”.
With tensions already high, several Chinese warplanes flew close to the median line dividing the Taiwan Strait on Tuesday morning, a source told Reuters.
Several Chinese warships have also sailed near the unofficial dividing line since Monday, the source said.
The source said both Chinese warships and aircraft “squeezed” the median line, an unusual move the person described as “very provocative.”
The Chinese aircraft repeatedly conducted tactical moves of briefly “touching” the median line and circling back to the other side of the strait while Taiwanese aircraft were on standby nearby, the person said.
The Chinese planes left the area in the afternoon but the ships remained, they said.
Neither side’s aircraft normally cross the median line.
Meanwhile four US warships, including an aircraft carrier, were positioned in waters east of Taiwan on what the US Navy called routine deployments.
The carrier USS Ronald Reagan had transited the South China Sea and was currently in the Philippines Sea, east of Taiwan and the Philippines and south of Japan, a US Navy official told Reuters.
It was operating with a guided missile cruiser, USS Antietam, and a destroyer, USS Higgins. The amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli was also in the area.
Since last week, China’s People’s Liberation Army has conducted various exercises, including live fire drills, in the South China Sea, Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea, in a show of Chinese military might. Reuters
