China's reunification is overriding historical trend: defense minister

SINGAPORE -- Chinese State Councilor and Minister of National Defense Li Shangfu said here on Sunday that China's reunification is an overriding historical trend and an unstoppable course.

The Taiwan question is the core of China's core interests, Li said in his speech at the 20th Shangri-La Dialogue.

"The Taiwan question is an internal affair of China and this is the first indisputable fact. Taiwan is China's Taiwan and how to resolve the Taiwan question is a matter for us Chinese to decide. It brooks no interference from foreign forces," he said.

As a matter of fact, over 180 countries forged diplomatic ties with China with the political commitment of abiding by the one-China principle, said the defense minister, adding that the one-China principle has become a universally recognized basic norm governing international relations.

It is written in black and white in the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation that Taiwan shall be restored to China as part of the post World War II international order, he said.

"Both the mainland and Taiwan belong to one and the same China. This is an indisputable fact. Any act to obscure or hollow out the one-China principle is both absurd and dangerous," he said.

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities in Taiwan deny the 1992 Consensus and have continuously pushed for incremental "Taiwan independence," they have tried hard to erase the Chinese identity of Taiwan and manipulated and hijacked public opinion, said the defense minister.

Meanwhile, he added, some big power has repeatedly sold arms to Taiwan, provided military training assistance to it and upgraded official exchanges with Taiwan.

He said people across the world can see clearly that the root causes of tensions across the Taiwan Strait are the DPP authorities soliciting foreign support for independence and some foreign forces' attempt to contain China with Taiwan and interfere in China's internal affairs.

"The more rampant the separatist activities for 'Taiwan independence' are, the more resolute our countermeasures will be. All foreign interference is doomed to end up in failure," he said.

The Taiwan question arose as a result of weakness and chaos in the Chinese nation, and it will be resolved as national rejuvenation becomes a reality. China must be and will be reunified, said the defense minister. It is the aspiration of Chinese people and the trend of the times.

"We will strive for the prospects of peaceful reunification with utmost sincerity and greatest efforts, but we make no promise to renounce the use of force," Li said.

"If anyone dares to separate Taiwan from China, the Chinese military will not hesitate for a second. We will fear no opponents and resolutely safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity regardless of any cost."