WATCH: Chinese warplanes, ships taunting Taiwan as Pelosi arrives

A Chinese warplane (Video screenshot)

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., arrived in Taiwan Tuesday, but not before China reportedly escalated military deployments near the contested island.

Reuters reported Chinese warplanes buzzed the unofficial dividing line between Chinese and Taiwanese waters, as military aircraft from Taiwan were standing by to respond.

In a "very provocative" manner, a number of Chinese warships also passed through waters adjacent to the island Tuesday, teaming with the aircraft to put pressure on the median line.

"The Chinese Communist Party is raising the specter of war and should be punished for doing so ... . We need to act in such a way that the CCP sees that its security has been degraded, not improved, because it threatened the Speaker," Jacqueline Deal, senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute and president and CEO of the Long Term Strategy Group, told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

TRENDING: North Korea deports runaway U.S. soldier after he broke the law there

Social-media users in China posted videos of troops and tanks rolling through the southern Chinese city of Xiamen toward the Fujian province coast, which borders the Taiwan Strait.

Latest footage circulating on Chinese social media WeChat shows armoured vehicles on the move in the southern Chinese city of Xiamen, as US Speaker Pelosi is reportedly heading to Taipei. pic.twitter.com/ePpJsO2VyM

— Bang Xiao 萧邦 (@BangXiao_) August 2, 2022

Reuters also reported the website of Taiwan's government suffered a brief outage Tuesday due a foreign cyberattack.

Taiwan's ministry of defense identified air activity in the strait on Monday and said it will mobilize as needed to address "enemy threats."

NOW - China's People's Liberation Army just posted a new video on WeChat ahead of Pelosi's potential visit to Taiwan.pic.twitter.com/QaiFcdGCn1

— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) August 1, 2022

"We are closely following the itinerary of Speaker Pelosi," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said Monday.

"A visit to Taiwan by her would ... greatly threaten peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, severely undermine China-US relations and lead to a very serious situation and grave consequences."

"We will not take the bait or engage in saber rattling. At the same time, we will not be intimidated," White House spokesman John Kirby said during a briefing on Monday.

The DCNF noted, "The White House and Pentagon cautioned Pelosi against the visit over fears it could ignite a conflict with China. The U.S. currently has two ships, an aircraft carrier and an amphibious vessel, operating in the strait."

If you like WND, get the news that matters most delivered directly to your inbox – for FREE!

Content created by the WND News Center is available for re-publication without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].

SUPPORT TRUTHFUL JOURNALISM. MAKE A DONATION TO THE NONPROFIT WND NEWS CENTER. THANK YOU!