TAIPEI: Taiwan's defence ministry on Thursday (Feb 27) reported a surge in Chinese military activity the previous day, but officials said they did not detect any live-fire exercises in a drill zone off the island's southwestern coast. Democratically governed Taiwan, which China views as its own territory, said on Wednesday the Chinese military had set up a zone for "shooting" drills in the southwestern part of the Taiwan Strait, off the major population centres of Kaohsiung and Pingtung. Taiwan'