China has reportedly shown its force by sending its sole aircraft carrier, Liaoning into the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday.
The said aircraft carrier is known to be conducting exercised in the South China Sea and even the midst of tension between Taiwan, it has make its transit to the other side.
"It's a show of force, and I think it is intended in part to intimidate, and that's worrisome from the U.S. and Taiwan's point of view because we don't know how much more they are going to ratchet up these pressures and tensions," said Bonnie S. Glaser, senior adviser for Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "If the Trump administration does see this as a test of U.S. resolve, I suspect they'll push back pretty forcefully."
To respond with the defiant move by China, Taiwan reportedly scramble F-16 fighter jets and anti-submarine plane to monitor the movement of the aircraft carrier.
"China was using the aircraft carrier to send a symbolic warning to both Taiwan and the incoming Trump administration," said Ni Lexiong, a naval affairs researcher at the Shanghai University of Political Science and Law.
"It's all connected," Ni said in a telephone interview via New York Times. "Since Trump won the election, his words and actions have touched China's bottom line. I think this was directed at America and the Taiwanese authorities. The aircraft carrier was on training exercises after all, but on the other hand, choosing this route to return was a response to their provocations."
However, according to Glaser, the said action could have been planned already as part of the exercise of the vessel done in South China Sea. This was echoed by Liu Zhenmin, the Chinese vice foreign minister claiming that the Strait was an international waterway and it was normal for the Chinese vessel to pass through it.
