Taiwan sets up response center to monitor Chinese military drills

(Reuters) - Taiwan's armed forces have set up a response center to monitor Chinese military activities, the island's defence ministry said on Tuesday, after China said it had begun joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around the democratic island.

Taiwan's Defence Minister Wellington Koo told reporters on the sidelines of the parliament that the island's armed forces were closely monitoring the Chinese military activities and the movements of China's Shandong aircraft carrier group off Taiwan's southeast.

(Reporting By Ben Blanchard and Yimou Lee; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)