China and the US flexed their naval might by deploying aircraft carriers in a rare showdown in the Taiwan Strait, the narrow channel that separates the Chinese mainland from Taiwan, as Beijing fumed over US House Speaker’s meeting with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in Washington.
The Taiwanese defence ministry said a Chinese naval fleet led by the Shandong aircraft carrier passed through the Bashi Channel – which runs between the island and the Philippines – before reaching waters southeast of Taiwan.
The carrier was heading to its first manoeuvres in the western Pacific, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported on Thursday.
