* No force can prevent 'reunification' of China, he says
* He calls China-U.S. military relationship 'generally
stable'
* Taiwan says China has endangered world peace
(Adds Taiwan government comment)
By Ben Blanchard
BEIJING, Oct 21 (Reuters) - China's defence minister, Wei
Fenghe, said on Monday that resolving the "Taiwan question" is
his country's "greatest national interest", and that no force
could prevent China's "reunification".
Separatist activities are doomed to failure, Wei said at the
opening of the Xiangshan Forum in Beijing, which China styles as
its answer to the annual Shangri-La Dialogue security forum in
Singapore.
Tensions between China and Taiwan have ratcheted up ahead of
the self-ruled island's presidential election in January. Taiwan
is China's most sensitive territorial issue.
"China is the only major country in the world that is yet to
be completely reunified," Wei said.
"Resolving the Taiwan question so as to realise China's full
reunification is the irresistible trend of the times, China's
greatest national interest, the righteous path to follow and the
longing of all Chinese people."
Proudly democratic Taiwan has lambasted China for its
authoritarian rule and for being a threat to regional peace,
while China has heaped pressure on Taiwan, whittling away at its
few remaining diplomatic allies.
Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council called the forum in
Beijing an "irony", saying China is "a factor of instability"
that has led to rising tensions in the region.
"The Chinese Communist Party's intimidation of the use of
force against Taiwan has threatened the world peace," the
council said in a statement.
"The threat of force cannot shake the will to protect
sovereignty and democracy of the 23 million people in Taiwan.
The Beijing authority should give up the impractical wishful
thinking of 'unification by force' at the soonest," the
statement said.
China regards Taiwan as its sacred territory, to be brought
under Beijing's rule, by force if needed, a message President Xi
Jinping reiterated at the start of this year.
China translates the word "tong yi" as "reunification", but
it can also be translated as "unification", a term in English
preferred by supporters of Taiwan independence who point out
that Beijing's Communist government has never ruled Taiwan and
so it cannot be "reunified".
Defeated Nationalist forces fled to Taiwan in 1949 at the
end of a civil war with the Communists. The People's Republic of
China has never governed Taiwan, whose people have shown little
interest in being ruled by autocratic Beijing.
China has also been angered by U.S. support for Taiwan,
including arms sales. Washington has no formal ties with Taipei,
but is bound by law to provide the island with the means to
defend itself.
"No one and no force can ever stop China's full
reunification. We are committed to promoting the peaceful
development of cross-Taiwan strait relations and the peaceful
reunification of the country," Wei said.
"However we will never allow separatists for Taiwan
independence to have their way, nor allow interference by any
external forces. Advancing China's reunification is a just
cause, while separatist activities are doomed to failure."
FRICTION WITH THE U.S.
The U.S. and China have clashed across multiple fronts in
recent years, not only because of the bitter trade war but also
because of efforts by Washington to check what it perceives as
growing capabilities and aggressiveness of Beijing's armed
forces in the Asia-Pacific region.
China asserts territorial claims in almost all of the
energy-rich waters of the South China Sea, as do smaller
neighbours Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and
Vietnam. But those countries are unable to keep pace with
China's military spending, which at nearly $170 billion this
year is second only to that of the U.S. Washington has spoken out against what it calls China's
"coercion" of Southeast Asian neighbours, further adding to
tensions.
Wei on Monday reiterated that Beijing is a "peace-loving
nation" that would never strike first and does not pose a threat
to the rest of the world.
"The China-U.S. military relationship is generally stable
but we are confronted with many difficulties and challenges," he
said. "Cooperation between the two militaries on strategic
communication, mutual trust and risk control should be further
strengthened."
The U.S. has also angered China by repeatedly conducting
what it calls "freedom of navigation" operations by ships close
to islands China occupies in the South China Sea.
"The South China Sea islands and Diaoyu islands are
inalienable parts of China's territory. We will not allow even
an inch of territory that our ancestors have left to us to be
taken away," Wei said.
($1 = 7.0682 Chinese yuan renminbi)