No one can stop Taiwan reunification, says Beijing

BEIJING, Oct 21 (AFP): China's defence minister made an uncompromising call Monday for the "reunification" of Taiwan with the mainland, telling a high level defence forum that the process was something "no force" could stop.

Self-ruled Taiwan is viewed by China as a renegade province which will eventually be unified with the mainland, by force if necessary, after the two sides split in 1949 after a civil war.

China will not stop in its efforts towards "realising the complete reunification of the motherland," Defence Minister General Wei Fenghe told defence ministers and officials from across Asia at the Xiangshan Forum in Beijing.

"China is the only big country in the world that has not yet achieved complete reunification," he said.

"It is something that nobody and that no force can stop."

Relations between Taipei and Beijing have deteriorated since the 2016 election of President Tsai Ing-wen, whose party refuses to accept that Taiwan is part of "one China".

Since then China has poached a number of political allies from Taipei, leaving it with a dwindling number of nations which recognise its government.