TAIPEI, Jan 26 (Reuters) – Taiwan is monitoring what it calls “abnormal” changes in China’s military leadership following an investigation into China’s top generals and will use various methods to decipher Beijing’s intentions, Defense Minister Ku Wei-jun said on Monday.
China announced on Saturday that Zhang Youxia, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission under President Xi Jinping, and Liu Zhenli, another senior official, were under investigation for suspected serious violations of discipline and law.
“We will continue to pay close attention to the unusual changes at the top of China’s party, government and military. The military’s position is based on the fact that China has never given up the use of force against Taiwan,” Koo told reporters in parliament.
Zhang has long been considered Xi Jinping’s closest military ally and is one of the few senior Chinese military officers with combat experience, having participated in the 1979 border conflict with Vietnam.
China considers democratically governed Taiwan its own territory and sends warplanes and warships into the skies and waters around Taiwan almost daily in what Taipei sees as a campaign of harassment aimed at getting the government to accept Beijing’s sovereignty claims.
Koo said it was not the case that any “single leadership reshuffle would be sufficient to conclude” what the ministry was considering.
He added that Taiwan would use a range of joint intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance methods, as well as intelligence sharing, to “get a handle” on China’s possible intentions.
“What we want is to have a comprehensive grasp of all indicators – military and non-military – that reflect China’s intentions and actions and then make a comprehensive overall assessment,” Koo said without elaborating.
China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control and held its latest round of military exercises in Taiwan late last month. Taiwan’s government says only the people on the island can decide their future.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Michael Perry)