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Taiwan Says Soldier Who Went Missing Has Been Found in China


FILE - Shiyu, or Lion Islet, which is part of Kinmen county, one of Taiwan's offshore islands, is seen in front of China's Xiamen, on Lieyu island, Kinmen county, Taiwan, Aug. 20, 2018.
FILE - Shiyu, or Lion Islet, which is part of Kinmen county, one of Taiwan's offshore islands, is seen in front of China's Xiamen, on Lieyu island, Kinmen county, Taiwan, Aug. 20, 2018.

A Taiwanese soldier serving on an islet close to the Chinese coast who went missing last week has been found in China, a senior Taiwan minister said on Monday, an incident that has happened amid heightened tensions.

Taiwan's defense ministry said on Thursday that the soldier had failed to report for rollcall on Erdan islet, part of the Taiwan-controlled Kinmen group of islands that lie near the Chinese city of Xiamen.

Speaking to reporters in parliament, Chiu Tai-san, head of Taiwan's China-policy making Mainland Affairs Council, said the soldier was in China.

"It's confirmed that he is in the mainland. The defense ministry and relevant departments are actively aware of the relevant progress and situation," he said.

"The defense ministry has their relevant mechanisms for identifying deserters," Chiu added.

The defense ministry declined to comment. China's Taiwan Affairs Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

China, which views Taiwan as its own territory, has over the past three years stepped up its military and political pressure to try and get Taiwan to accept Chinese sovereignty. Taiwan's government rejects those claims.

During the height of the Cold War, defectors from both sides would on occasion swim between China and Kinmen.

At its nearest point, from the Mashan observation post, the main island of Kinmen is at low tide less than 2km (1.6 miles) from Chinese-controlled territory.

It was from there former World Bank chief economist Justin Lin swam across to defect to China in 1979.

Taiwan has controlled Kinmen, as well as the Matsu islands further up the Chinese coast, since the Republic of China government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with the communists, who established the People's Republic of China.

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    Reuters

    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

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