Tensions Rise as China Reacts to US-Taiwan Meeting and Aircraft Carrier Deployment

China has deployed an aircraft carrier strike group, the Shandong Carrier Strike Group, off Taiwan's east coast, according to military officials in Taipei and Tokyo. The deployment began on Wednesday, the same day Taiwan's president met with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California. The carrier strike group is now operating off Taiwan's east coast after transiting the Bashi channel on Wednesday in its first training voyage in the Western Pacific. The deployment comes as China's carrier CNS Liaoning is in maintenance while its third carrier, CNS Fujian, is in its fitting-out stage.