The pro-Beijing Wen Wei Po said a high level conference was recently held in Fujian "to speed preparations for military warfare."

Quoting unidentified sources, it said the key reason for the conference was to push forward military reform, boost fighting capability of the People's Liberation Army and to improve its standards.

The report also said military exercises in Xiamen, a coastal city in Fujian, had "entered a peak."

Scores of military vehicles were carrying army officials and soldiers to Huandao Road Beach for military exercises every day during high tides, it said.

"Huandao Road in Xiamen is only a stone's throw away from the Dadan, Erdan islands where the Taiwanese army is stationed," it said, adding that although military drills were held there annually, the scale and duration year was "unusual."

China has recently stepped up its rhetoric against Taiwan, warning pro-independence forces it has the military strength to invade the island.

Tension between Beijing and Taipei has been heightened since Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian was re-elected this year, with China fearful his pro-independence moves were aimed at gaining formal independence.

China's largest war games of the year are currently underway in the Taiwan Strait, pro-Beijing Hong Kong papers have said, aimed at simulating an invasion of Taiwan and demonstrating air superiority.

Taiwan air force jets, meanwhile, staged rare landings on closed off freeways Wednesday as part of exercises to show its readiness in the event of an attack by China.

The military followed it up Thursday with amphibious drills in southern coastal towns.

The United States Wednesday urged both sides to ensure their military exercises were not provocative and did not add to cross-strait tension.

Beijing has regarded Taiwan as a renegade province that must be reunified, by force if necessary, since the Communists won a civil war and drove the defeated Nationalists into exile on the island in 1949.

WAR.WIRE