TAIPEI — Taiwan is monitoring what it called “abnormal” changes to China’s military leadership after its most senior general was put under investigation, and will not lower its guard as the threat level remains high, the defense minister said on Monday.

China announced on Saturday that Zhang Youxia, second-in-command under President Xi Jinping as vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission, and another senior officer, Liu Zhenli, were under investigation for suspected serious violations of discipline and law.

“We will continue to closely monitor abnormal changes among the top levels of China’s party, government, and military leadership. The military’s position is based on the fact that China has never abandoned the use of force against Taiwan,” Taiwan Defense Minister Wellington Koo told reporters at parliament.

Mr. Zhang has long been seen as Mr. Xi’s closest military ally, and is one of the few senior Chinese officers with combat experience, having taken part in the 1979 border conflict with Vietnam.

China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, sends warplanes and warships into the skies and waters around the island on an almost daily basis, in what Taipei views as a harassment campaign to get the government to accept Beijing’s sovereignty claims.

Mr. Koo said what the ministry was looking at is not any “single leadership reshuffle that would be enough to draw conclusions”.

Taiwan will use a range of joint intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance methods, as well as intelligence-sharing, to “grasp” China’s possible intentions, he added.

China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control, and held its latest round of war games around the island late last month. Taiwan’s government says only the island’s people can decide their future.

Speaking later in the day to lawmakers, Mr. Koo said it was clear that the Chinese threat was worsening, pointing to the war games, daily military activities, and ongoing rise in China’s defense spending, and Taiwan cannot let down its guard.

“We won’t let the downfall of any one person make us lower our guard or slacken the level of war preparedness we should maintain,” he added.

Taiwan will exchange intelligence with its partners on what changes may be taking places in China’s military command structure, Mr. Koo said.

“Regarding the threat to us, we need to focus on early-warning indicators and signs. This has to be continuous not only on the military side but also on the non-military side.” — Reuters

HONG KONG — China’s President Xi Jinping said China and India were “good neighbors, friends and partners” as he wished President Droupadi Murmu congratulations on the South Asian nation’s Republic Day, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Monday.

Mr. Xi said that over the past year, China-India relations have continued to improve and develop and are of “great significance for maintaining and promoting world peace and prosperity,” according to Xinhua.

Mr. Xi said China has always believed that being “good neighbors, friends and partners” is the right choice for both China and India.

He referred to China and India as the “dragon and the elephant dancing together,” Xinhua said.

Mr. Xi said he hoped that both sides would expand exchanges and cooperation and address each other’s concerns to promote healthy and stable relations.

The nuclear-armed Asian neighbors share a 3,800-kilometer (2,400-mile) border that is poorly demarcated and has been disputed since the 1950s.

Ties between the countries were shaken by a 2020 clash in which 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers died in hand-to-hand combat. After that, the Himalayan border was heavily militarized by both sides.

Both countries began improving ties last year after staging a series of high-level bilateral visits.

Direct flights resumed in 2025 as both countries stepped up trade and investment flows against the backdrop of US President Donald J. Trump’s combative foreign policy. — Reuters

HANOI — Former South Korean Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan, a veteran politician and influential fixture on the country’s road to democracy, died during an official visit to Vietnam’s southern hub of Ho Chi Minh City, both governments said.

Mr. Lee, 73, died on Sunday, after emergency medical aid for a heart attack, a South Korean presidential advisory panel said in a statement.

“The country has lost a great mentor in the history of our democracy,” President Lee Jae Myung said. “He dedicated his life to protecting and growing democratic values through our turbulent modern history.”

Mr. Lee spearheaded government reform as prime minister from 2004 to 2006. The seven-term former member of parliament had started out as a student activist who was jailed in the 1970s for leading a democracy movement.

A firebrand who often clashed with political opponents, he was considered a shrewd strategist who helped four liberal presidents, including the current incumbent, to win the office.

Mr. Lee’s death turns a “chapter in our political history,” the conservative opposition People Power Party said in a condolence statement.

Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and other leaders offered condolences to South Korea and Mr. Lee’s family.

The Southeast Asian nation’s foreign ministry worked with city officials, among others, to ensure Mr. Lee received the best medical care, but the efforts were unavailing, because of the severity of his condition, it said in a statement.

Mr. Lee had arrived in Vietnam on Thursday for a meeting of the panel, which advises the government on policy with North Korea.

He was the civilian head of the panel, known as the Peaceful Unification Advisory Council, with members both at home and overseas. — Reuters