Several Chinese fighter jets flew near the median line separating the Taiwan Straits on Tuesday morning, according to a Taiwanese official briefed on the developments, reminding Taipei that Beijing’s air force could reach the island within minutes. Military units across the People’s Liberation Army’s Southern Theater Command, which is responsible for the South China Sea and some Taiwan-related missions, have been placed on high alert, according to military officials in two neighboring countries. Taiwan and the US braced for a possible violent response from Beijing, which has repeatedly warned that the PLA “would not sit idly by” if Pelosi visited Taiwan as part of a wider Asia trip that began in Singapore on Monday. Beijing claims Taiwan as part of its sovereign territory. Stocks fell on the tensions, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index down as much as 3.2 percent and China’s CSI 300 down as much as 2.8 percent on Tuesday. China also announced a series of war games in the South China Sea scheduled to last from Tuesday morning to Saturday night, following various drills in the previous week. Domestic air traffic in Fujian, the Chinese province closest to Taiwan, was suspended on Tuesday, a sign that the airspace could be cleared for military movements. Russia has accused the US of “provoking” China, in apparent retaliation for Beijing’s tacit support for Moscow’s aggression in Ukraine. “Everything about this tour and the possible visit to Taiwan is purely provocative,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to Reuters. In a further affirmation of what the two countries call a “borderless friendship,” the Ostankino TV tower in Moscow was lit up with a message this week that said “China, we are with you!” Taiwan was not mentioned on Pelosi’s official itinerary, which also includes Japan, South Korea and Malaysia, but people familiar with the matter confirmed that she would meet with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen on Wednesday. That would make Pelosi, a longtime critic of China, particularly for its human rights abuses, the first US House Speaker to visit Taiwan in 25 years. “Large-scale Chinese exercises around Taiwan after Pelosi’s departure is the least we should expect,” said Hsu Yen-chi, a researcher at the Council for Strategic and Wargaming Studies in Taipei. Zhang Jun, China’s ambassador to the UN, condemned the visit as “dangerous and provocative”. “Taiwan’s trend toward independence is developing further,” Zhang said after confirming Pelosi’s visit. “If we do not take appropriate, dynamic measures . . . the situation can [get] out of control.” A Taiwanese official familiar with the PLA’s movements said tension in the Southern Theater Command was at its highest, with Pelosi expected to pass through her area of ​​responsibility on her way from Malaysia to Taipei. “Since the Chinese government has warned that it must suffer the consequences if it flies near Taiwan, the Southern Command will be responsible for deterring the US in that area,” the official said. In the waters off Taiwan’s east coast, considered the country’s weak side, PLA Navy patrols have been stepped up over the past 10 days. According to the Japanese military, a missile destroyer, a frigate and a military surveillance ship from the PLA have been circling Japan’s southwestern islands in recent days, often passing between Japan’s westernmost territories and Taiwan. The largest airline operating in Xiamen, a city in Fujian, said on Tuesday it was adjusting many of its flights, citing the “influence” of provincial air traffic control. Many flights to the airport in Quanzhou, a small coastal city northeast of Xiamen, were also canceled. Quanzhou’s Jinjiang Airport is also used by the PLA Air Force.

The Pentagon declined to comment on its preparations to protect Pelosi and her delegation. But the US military already has navies in the region, including the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and the USS Tripoli, a large amphibious assault ship that carries fighter jets. If China sends fighter jets to intercept Pelosi’s plane, the US Air Force and Navy could intercept fighters from ships at sea or from bases in the region to intercept them. A defense official said the Pentagon does not need to change the timelines to protect Pelosi. “That’s why you have forces in theater and why we support forces being in theater, because we don’t have to augment in a crisis,” the defense official said. John Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council, warned China on Monday not to turn a possible visit by Pelosi to Taiwan into “a pretext for increasing aggressive military activity in or around the Taiwan Strait.” He said the Chinese military appeared to be preparing for more activity “in the coming days.” The Financial Times reported last week that China had issued stark warnings to the White House that included possible military retaliation. Kirby said possible responses ranged from firing missiles into the Taiwan Strait to flying much larger sorties of warplanes into Taiwan’s “air defense reconnaissance zone,” in addition to sending aircraft and naval vessels along the median line in the Taiwan Strait. Additional reporting by Emma Zhou and Maiqi Ding in Beijing