Taiwan warns of Spratly Islands training drill
Announcement of five days of live-fire exercises could cause mounting tensions with neighbours
Taiwan has risked angering its neighbours by warning that it will stage a five-day live-fire drill in the disputed Spratly Islands.
Foreign ministry spokesman Steve Hsia said the training exercise would take place on Taiping Island, in the South China Sea, between September 1 and 5.
He said the notification was in line with international practice and was given so that neighbouring countries would warn their vessels not to sail near Taiping Island during the drill.
"It will just be a routine drill," Hsia said, adding the exercise will be conducted by the Coast Guard Administration instead of the defence ministry because the defence of Taiping Island was now in the hands of the coastguard.
Since 2000, Taiwan has removed troops from Taiping Island, one of the largest in the Spratlys group.
The Spratlys are claimed wholly or in part by Taiwan, the mainland, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.
The replacement of troops with coastguard officers was one of former Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian's policies to try to ease tensions in the region.