House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., center left, visits Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen, center right, at the president's office on August 3, 2022, in Taipei, Taiwan. Photo by Chien Chih-Hung/Office of The President via Getty Images
China Fired a New Missile After Pelosi’s Taiwan Visit, PacFleet Says
The weapon was part of a barrage of missiles and live-fire exercises meant to signal disapproval of the U.S. visit to the self-governing island.
China fired a new type of missile as part of its military response to House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s August visit to Taiwan, the commander of U.S. Pacific Fleet said Friday.
“We did see the employment of some new weapon systems,” Adm. Samuel Paparo said during the Military Reporters and Editors Association conference in Washington, D.C. “We saw the flight of one missile that was not previously employed between 1996 and 1998,” a reference to the Taiwan Strait Crisis that saw China fire ballistic missiles around and over the self-governing island.
“We noted its trajectory and have taken stock of that, in terms of enriching our own already robust defenses against any anti-access area denial weapons that the [People’s Republic of China] can bring to bear,” Paparo said.
He declined to say more about the weapon.
China’s response to Pelosi’s visit included firing at least a dozen missiles that landed north and south of the island, including ones that reportedly overflew Taipei, the capital. Chinese aircraft and warships also conducted several days of live-fire drills in a half-dozen areas around the island. Paparo said several warships were “essentially encircling Taiwan” while “many aircraft” crossed the strait’s unofficial centerline.
He said it all reminded him of China’s response during the 1996 crisis.
This reporter is a board member of the MRE association.