Taiwan says live fire China drills may be part of a 'deterrence' effect

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan's defence ministry said on Tuesday that live fire Chinese drills in a province facing the island are part of routine annual drills but also possibly part of China's "deterrence effect" in the waters of the Taiwan Strait.

China's Maritime Safety Administration, in a notice late Monday, said an area around Niushan island in Fujian province would be closed off for four hours from 9 a.m. (0100GMT) on Tuesday for live fire drills. Niushan also sits just south of the Taiwan-controlled Matsu islands.

Taiwan's defence ministry said in a statement that those exercises were part of routine Chinese training and it was keeping a close watch.

However, the ministry said it could not rule out that it was part of China's "expanding its deterrent effect in conjunction with the dynamics in the Taiwan Strait". It did not elaborate.

China last week held a day of war games around the island Beijing views as its own territory it said were a warning to "separatist acts".

Premier Cho Jung-tai told reporters in Taipei that China should not be carrying out any such exercises given their threat to regional peace and stability.

"No matter how large the scale of the drill is, they should not be frequent and close to Taiwan," he said. "This will only cause unnecessary tension."

Taiwan has complained for the past five years of regular Chinese warplane and warship missions in the air space and waters around the island.

China detests Taiwan President Lai Ching-te, who took office in May, as a "separatist" and has rebuffed his calls for talks.

Lai rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims, saying only Taiwan's people can decide their future.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)