Taiwan takes prudent stance after China probes top general Zhang Youxia

Taipei, Jan. 29 (CNA) The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said Thursday that the Taiwanese government will take a prudent approach in assessing the impact on cross-strait security of an investigation announced by the Chinese authorities into top general Zhang Youxia (張又俠).

Following last Saturday's announcement of the purge of Zhang, scholars have offered two "extreme" interpretations of the move's impact on the likelihood Beijing could take military action against Taiwan, MAC deputy head and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a regular news briefing in Taipei.

"Some argue it increases the likelihood of a Chinese attack on Taiwan, while others say it makes Beijing less likely to do so in the short term," Liang said.

"Our government's stance is to take a prudent approach and be fully prepared," he added, without providing details on what specific steps the government is taking.

Liang was commenting on an announcement by China's Ministry of National Defense (MND) last Saturday that Zhang, a vice chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), and Liu Zhenli (劉振立), chief of staff of the CMC's Joint Staff Department, are under investigation for "suspected serious discipline and law violations."

MND Spokesperson Jiang Bin (蔣斌) said Thursday that the decision to "resolutely investigate" Zhang and Liu is "a major achievement" in the anti-corruption campaign conducted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and People's Liberation Army (PLA).

The investigations are the latest in a series of senior-level purges that have significantly reduced the CMC's senior leadership roster -- leaving only Chinese President Xi Jinping's (習近平) and Zhang Shengmin (張升民), a CMC vice chairman -- and underscored ongoing turbulence within PLA's top command.

During an online program aired Wednesday, MAC head Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) noted that even after the shake-up in China's military leadership, the PLA has continued to send military aircraft near Taiwan.

Such activity shows no signs of being curtailed by the personnel turmoil and "cross-strait risks remain," he said.