BEIJING • A deputy head of China's Taiwan Affairs Office is being investigated for suspected "serious discipline violations", the ruling Communist Party's anti-graft watchdog has said, using the usual euphemism for corruption.

The brief statement from the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection gave no other details of the probe into Mr Gong Qinggai, 57, yesterday.

Taiwan is a highly sensitive issue for Beijing.

China considers self-ruled Taiwan - which voted in a new president and Parliament last Saturday - a wayward province, to be brought under Beijing's control by force if needed.

Defeated nationalist forces fled there in 1949 at the end of a civil war.

Mr Gong joined the Taiwan Affairs Office - which is in charge of policy towards the island and relations with it - in 2013.

Before this, he had spent his entire working career with the Fujian government, according to his official biography.

REUTERS