Taiwan's Defence Minister dismissed China's complaint about a collision involving a Taiwanese Navy ship and a Chinese trawler, in the Taiwan Strait. Taipei said it will continue to conduct military exercises when necessary.

China's Taiwan Affairs Office has condemned the actions taken by the Taiwanese Landing Ship following the collision that occurred early the next morning off the central city of Taichung in Taiwan. Taiwan said the collision did not occur in "restricted waters".

The Taiwan Affairs Office says the same thing every time. Wellington Koo, Taiwan's Defence Minister, told reporters at the parliament that he could only confirm that the drills we need to conduct will be carried out.

Koo responded that it would be "impossible" for a Chinese fishing vessel to gather any detailed information about the activities of the Taiwanese military.

He declined to speculate about the cause or assign blame for the incident, in which no one was injured.

Taiwan Strait is a site of daily Chinese military activities. Both sides maintain a respectable distance, and there hasn't been an exchange of fire in decades.

In recent years, China has increased its military exercises around the island, claiming democratically governed Taiwan to be its territory.

Taiwan's government has consistently criticized Beijing for its efforts to exert pressure on Taipei and rejects China's claims of sovereignty.

The China Taiwan Affairs Office published this week a list of names and email addresses of people who had reported their activities to a specific email address. However, it didn't specify whether these reports were from China or Taiwan.

Liu Shyhfang, Taiwan's Interior Minister, who was at the top, told reporters Friday that she had been very busy and hadn't really paid attention to the list.

She said, "I believe our friends from the Taiwan Affairs Office were rude to our officials."

China encouraged people in the past to send email tips about what it called "separatists" activities in Taiwan. Ben Blanchard, Himani Sarkar and Ben Blanchard contributed to this report.

(source: Reuters)