As U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi headed to Taipei on Tuesday amid intensifying warnings from China, four U.S. warships, including an aircraft carrier, were positioned in waters east of the island on “routine” deployments. 

The carrier USS Ronald Reagan had transited the South China Sea and was currently in the Philippines Sea, east of Taiwan, a U.S. Navy official confirmed on Tuesday. The Japanese-based Reagan is operating with a guided missile cruiser, USS Antietam, and a destroyer, USS Higgins. “While they are able to respond to any eventuality, these are normal, routine deployments,” the official said.