Taipei - Taiwan has decided to stage its major war games every other year instead of holding them annually, a senior military official said Thursday amid a thaw in previously hostile relations with China.

"Because the cycle of the live-fire Hankuang Exercises is too short, making it difficult for the military to have adequate time to correct and adjust shortcomings found in each drill, we have decided to hold the series of drills every other year instead of annually," Defence Minister Chen Chao-min said at a legislative session in Taipei.

General Chen declined to say whether the decision had anything to do with the policy of President Ma Ying-jeou's government to engage China.

Since Ma of the China-friendly Nationalist Party took office in May, he has adopted a policy to engage Beijing in a bid to improve cross-strait relations and ease tensions. The two sides had been at the loggerheads since they split at the end of a civil war in 1949.

To strengthen its combat readiness in the event of any surprise attack from China, Taiwan has staged military drills each year with Hankuang being its most important exercise. The military already completed its 2008 Hankuang Exercises last month.

Chiu Kuo-cheng, deputy combat and planning director at the Defence Ministry, said the change would begin in 2009 with the army, air and naval forces focusing on computer-simulated war games followed by live-fire war games in the first half of 2010. (dpa)