DF-17 medium-range ballistic missiles at a military parade in Beijing. File photoBEJING, Jun 10 The Chinese army will resist attempts to separate Taiwan from China and achieve independence at all costs, even at the cost of war, Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Wu Qian said on Friday. International Security Conference «Shangri-La Dialogue» in Singapore hosted a bilateral meeting between Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe and Pentagon Chief Lloyd Austin. After the talks, Wu Qian held a briefing for journalists covering the event.The main instrument of China's influence on the United States has been named «Defense Minister Wei Fenghe emphasized that if someone dares to break off Taiwan, the Chinese army will certainly be ready to fight, will not stand up for the price to destroy any plans to separate Taiwan or achieve its independence,» — said Wu Qian, whose words are quoted by China Central Television. He also stressed that the People's Liberation Army of China is determined to resolutely protect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country. Earlier, Wu Qian said that China is firmly committed to peaceful reunification with Taiwan, but will never tolerate its «independence.» He emphasized that there is only one China in the world, and Taiwan is its integral part, and compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait share a common destiny and are «blood brothers.» Official relations between the central government of the PRC and its island province were interrupted in 1949, after the defeated in the civil war with the Chinese Communist Party, the Kuomintang forces led by Chiang Kai-shek moved to Taiwan. Business and informal contacts between the island and mainland China resumed in the late 1980s. Since the early 1990s, the parties began to contact through non-governmental organizations — the Beijing Association for the Development of Relations across the Taiwan Strait and the Taipei Cross-Strait Exchange Foundation. the threat to the United States arose in their backyard
