TAIPEI (Reuters) -&nbsp;Taiwan's defence minister said on Tuesday that the government is investigating the disappearance of a&nbsp;soldier&nbsp;serving on an offshore island&nbsp;who&nbsp;has been found in&nbsp;China, and vowed to&nbsp;bring&nbsp;him&nbsp;back.
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Speaking to reporters at parliament, Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng said: "We certainly hope to&nbsp;bring&nbsp;him&nbsp;back&nbsp;home. So how will we get him&nbsp;back?&nbsp;There are alternative channels we are pursuing."
He did not elaborate on those channels.&nbsp;
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The minister denied what he called rumours that the&nbsp;soldier&nbsp;had fled from abusive treatment by the military.
When asked whether there was any risk that the missing&nbsp;soldier&nbsp;could disclose classified military deployment and location information, he replied, "Regardless of whether he has any such capability, which we neither confirm nor deny, we would not need to make any large-scale strategic adjustments to mitigate any information provided by this one individual."
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The&nbsp;soldier, serving on Erdan islet close to the Chinese coast,&nbsp;went&nbsp;missing last week and was found on Monday.
China's&nbsp;Taiwan&nbsp;Affairs Office has not commented on the issue.
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;China, which views&nbsp;Taiwan&nbsp;as its own territory, has over the past three years stepped up military and political pressure to try and get&nbsp;Taiwan&nbsp;to accept Chinese sovereignty.&nbsp;Taiwan's government rejects those claims.
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; During the height of the Cold War, defectors from both sides would on occasion swim between&nbsp;China&nbsp;and Kinmen.
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; At its nearest point, from the Mashan observation post, the main island of Kinmen is at low tide less than 2km (1.6 miles) from Chinese-controlled territory.&nbsp;
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;It was from there former World Bank chief economist Justin Lin swam across to defect to&nbsp;China&nbsp;in 1979.
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Taiwan&nbsp;has controlled Kinmen, as well as the Matsu islands further up the Chinese coast, since the Republic of&nbsp;China&nbsp;government fled to&nbsp;Taiwan&nbsp;in 1949 after losing a civil war with the communists,&nbsp;who&nbsp;established the People's Republic of&nbsp;China.
&nbsp;
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard and Faith Hung. Editing by Gerry Doyle)

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Taiwan says it hopes to bring back soldier who went to China