TAIPEI (Reuters) – Taiwan’s defence minister on Friday dismissed China’s complaints about a collision between a Taiwanese navy ship and Chinese trawler in the sensitive Taiwan Strait, saying Taipei will continue to carry out military exercises as needed.
Late Thursday, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office condemned the actions of the Taiwanese landing ship as “wicked” following the collision, which occurred in the early hours of the same day off Taiwan’s central city of Taichung. Taiwan, however, said it did not take place in “restricted” waters.
“The Taiwan Affairs Office always says things like this. I can only say that we will carry out the drills we should be carrying out,” Taiwan Defence Minister Wellington Koo told reporters on the sidelines of parliament.
When asked whether the Chinese fishing boat was spying on Taiwan’s navy activities, Koo said it was “not really possible” for such a vessel to get any kind of detailed information on what the military was up to.
Taiwan’s coast guard is leading an investigation into what happened, he added of the incident in which there were no casualties, declining to speculate on the reason or where to apportion blame.
The Taiwan Strait is the site of daily Chinese and Taiwanese military activities, though both sides normally maintain a respectful distance and there have been no exchanges of fire for decades.
China, which claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, has ramped up its military drills around the island in recent years.
Taiwan’s government rejects China’s sovereignty claims and routinely denounces what it says are Beijing’s efforts to pressure Taipei.
This week, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office published a list of names of alleged “separatists” whose activities had been reported to a special email address, though it did not say if these reports came from people in China or Taiwan.
Taiwan Interior Minister Liu Shyh-fang, whose name was at the top of the list, told reporters on Friday she had been busy this week and had not really paid much attention to it.
“I think our friends at the Taiwan Affairs Office have been very rude about our officials,” she said.
China has previously encouraged people to email tip-offs about what it calls Taiwan “separatist” activity.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
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