TAIPEI – Taiwanese aircraft scrambled to monitor a Chinese carrier battlegroup transiting the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday following Chinese PresidentXi Jinping’s warning that Taiwan would face the “punishment of history” ifit seeks independence.

According to the Taiwanese Defense Ministry, the aircraft carrier Liaoningled a group of warships from the People’s Liberation Army-Navy through thenarrow waterway between China and Taiwan on Wednesday.

Aircraft taking off from the carrier did not do anything out of theordinary that should concern the Taiwanese people, the ministry noted.Taiwanese fighter aircraft and warships shadowed the carrier’s operationswhile it passed through the strait.

Tensions between Taipei and Beijing escalated last week when US PresidentDonald Trump signed into law a new policy allowing senior Taiwaneseofficials to visit the US.

The move angered Beijing, which views the self-ruling island as a waywardprovince, not a sovereign state. Trump’s move also spurred a promisefrom Chinese state media to apply “military pressure” against Taiwan andthe US.