The warning came as Wei Fenghe held his first face-to-face meeting with US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore SINGAPORE, June 10 (AFP/Reuters): Beijing will "not hesitate to start a war" if Taiwan declares independence, China's defence minister warned his US counterpart Friday in the pair's first face-to-face talks, officials said.
"If anyone dares to split Taiwan from China, the Chinese army will definitely not hesitate to start a war no matter the cost," Wu Qian quoted defence minister Wei Fenghe as saying during a meeting with Lloyd Austin.
The Chinese minister also vowed that Beijing would "smash to smithereens any 'Taiwan independence' plot and resolutely uphold the unification of the motherland", according to the Chinese defence ministry.
He "stressed that Taiwan is China's Taiwan... Using Taiwan to contain China will never prevail", the ministry said.
Austin told his Chinese counterpart during the talks in Singapore that Beijing must "refrain from further destabilising actions toward Taiwan", the US Department of Defence said.
Taiwan, a self-ruled, democratic island, lives under the constant threat of invasion by China. Beijing views the island as its territory and has vowed to one day seize it, by force if necessary.
A Reuters report adds: The defence chiefs of China and the United States held face-to-face talks in Singapore on Friday, with both sides standing firm on their opposing views over Taiwan's right to rule itself.
Relations between China and the United States have been tense in recent months, with the world's two largest economies clashing over everything from Taiwan and China's human rights record to its military activity in the South China Sea.
US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chinese Minister of National Defence General Wei Fenghe met in Singapore for nearly an hour, double the time initially allotted for the meeting.
It was the first face-to-face meeting between the pair since US President Joe Biden took office last year, although they spoke by phone in April.
Wei said the talks "went smoothly". A Chinese defence ministry spokesman later said Wei reiterated Beijing's firm stance on Taiwan, which is that it is part of China.
Austin called on China to "refrain from further destabilising actions" on Taiwan, a US statement issued after the talks said.
China, which claims democratic Taiwan as its own territory, has increased military activity near the island over the past two years, responding to what it calls "collusion" between Taipei and Washington.
A Chinese fighter aircraft dangerously intercepted an Australian military surveillance plane in the South China Sea region in May and Canada's military has accused Chinese warplanes of harassing its patrol aircraft as they monitor North Korea sanction evasions.
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