U.S. deploys ships and planes near Taiwan as Pelosi eyes visit
TOKYO — The U.S. military is moving assets, including aircraft carriers and large planes, closer to Taiwan ahead of an anticipated but unconfirmed visit to the island by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The military was initially opposed to the speaker’s visit but now looks to be creating a buffer zone for Pelosi’s plane, in case she decides to go ahead with the controversial stop.
But with China declaring that it would “never sit idly by” if she were to visit the island, tensions in East Asia have quickly escalated, perhaps against the will of both U.S. President Joe Biden, who was seeking to remove some tariffs on Chinese goods to counter inflation, and Chinese President Xi Jinping, who faces a sensitive political season at home with his rule extension on the line.
A reporter for local network TVBS tweeted that the speaker is expected to arrive in Taiwan on Tuesday evening.
She is in Singapore today.
If she goes to Malaysia next, that would be a one day stop in order to make it to Taiwan Tuesday evening.
I can’t imagine that these brief stops are useful.
So her little junket at taxpayer expense as a lame duck is now costing tens of millions of dollars. Terrible.
The trip may be worthless but I’ll bet the liquor tab will be memorable.