China Says Will 'Resolutely' Defend Claims Over Taiwan And South China Sea

In a covert threat to Washington, China's Defense Minister Gen. Wei Fenghe said the country's military will "resolutely take action" to defend Beijing’s claims over Taiwan and the South China Sea.

Wei made these comments at the annual security conference in Singapore.

China regards all of Taiwan’s territorial claims as its own and would likely seize an opportunity to step in if a crisis were to erupt in the disputed South China Sea involving Taiwan, geopolitical intelligence platform Stratfor has said. The U.S. is the only arms supplier to the Taiwan and sees it as its ally as part of its strategic re-engagement with East Asia.

As relations between China and the United States continue to deteriorate, Wei said the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) would not "yield a single inch of the country’s sacred land." “The PLA has no intention to cause anybody trouble but it is not afraid to face up to troubles. Should anybody risk crossing the bottom line, the PLA will resolutely take action and defeat all enemies,” he said.

Stratfor explains that China views Taiwan as a "disobedient province" that will eventually be subsumed by the Mainland. China has the upper hand over Taiwan as Taipei has never been a legal stakeholder in the key international platforms regarding territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

The Associated Press reported Wei as saying that China must be and will be reunified. “If anyone dares to split Taiwan from China, the Chinese military has no choice but to fight at all costs for national unity. We will strive for the prospect of peace unification with utmost sincerity and greatest efforts, but we make no promise to renounce the use of force.”

Speaking at the same conference, the U.S. Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan urged China to stop activities, such as technology stealing and militarizing man-made outposts in the South China Sea, that the United States perceives as "hostile."

However, Wei said China had only built "limited defense facilities" aimed at improving services and infrastructure for its people.