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Taiwan says China's 'shooting' drills are off its

southwest

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China has not announced any military exercises

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Senior Chinese leader vows 'reunification' push with

Taiwan

By Yimou Lee and Joe Cash

TAIPEI/BEIJING, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Taiwan on Wednesday

condemned China for provocative behaviour after saying Beijing's

military would hold "shooting" drills off the island's southwest

coast, while a senior Chinese leader vowed unswerving efforts to

bring the island under Beijing's control.

Democratically governed Taiwan, which China views as its own

territory, has repeatedly complained of Chinese military

activities, including several rounds of full-scale war games

during the past three years.

Shortly before 9 a.m. (0100 GMT), Taiwan's defence ministry

said in a statement it had detected 32 Chinese military aircraft

carrying out a "joint combat readiness drill" with Chinese

warships in the Taiwan Strait area.

"During this period it even blatantly violated international

practice by setting up a drills area in waters about 40 nautical

miles (74 km) off the coast ... without prior warning, claiming

that it would carry out 'shooting training'," the ministry

added.

Taiwan's major southwestern population centres of Kaohsiung

and Pingtung both host important naval and air bases. Kaohsiung

is also Taiwan's largest port and a busy hub for global

shipping.

The exercises endanger the safety of international flights

and shipping and are a "blatant provocation" to regional peace

and stability, the defence ministry said.

It said it had dispatched its own forces to keep watch.

There was no immediate confirmation from China that it was

carrying out new drills around Taiwan and its defence ministry

did not respond to a request for comment.

China's other recent military activity in the region, such

as that off Australia's coast, are "proof that China is the

only, and the greatest, threat to peace and stability in the

Taiwan Strait and the Indo-Pacific," Taiwan's ministry said.

China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan

under its rule, and has denounced both President Lai Ching-te,

who took office last year, as a "separatist", and the United

States for its support for Taiwan.

Lai's office condemned the drills, but said the government

had a "full grasp" of the situation and people could rest

assured.

"Maintaining regional peace and stability is the common

responsibility of both sides of the Taiwan Strait," Lai's

spokesperson Karen Kuo said in a statement.

Earlier on Wednesday, China's official Xinhua news agency

said the ruling Communist Party's fourth ranked leader, Wang

Huning, had called this week for greater effort in the cause of

Chinese "reunification".

China must "firmly grasp the right to dominate and take the

initiative in cross-strait relations, and unswervingly push

forward the cause of reunification of the motherland", it quoted

Wang as telling an annual meeting on work related to Taiwan.

Taiwan's government rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims,

saying only the island's people can decide their future.

SEVERED UNDERSEA CABLES

Taiwan and China also traded barbs this week over the

severing of an undersea communications cable off the island's

southwest coast.

Taiwan's coast guard on Tuesday detained a Chinese-linked

cargo ship, flagged in Togo, suspected of involvement, though

Beijing said Taiwan was "manipulating" possible Chinese

involvement, saying the island was casting aspersions before the

facts were clear.

Before its detention, the Chinese-crewed Hong Tai 58 was

already on a monitoring list of 52 China-linked vessels that

Taiwan security agencies suspect pose a threat to cables because

of their past activities near Taiwan, two Taiwan officials

familiar with the matter told Reuters.

This is the fifth case of sea cable malfunctions this year

for Taiwan. It reported three such cases in 2024 and 2023.

Taiwan has pointed to similarities between what it has

experienced and damage to undersea cables in the Baltic Sea

after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.