China's Defense Minister says Taiwan belongs to the country

China's Defense Minister said Thursday that "Taiwan's historical and legal membership of China is unquestionable," during the Xiangshan Forum in Beijing, the Asian country's main annual military diplomatic event.

Dong Jun told Defense delegates from several countries that the People's Liberation Army (PLA, the Chinese army) "will never allow any separatist attempt to triumph" in Taiwan .

During the opening of the forum's first plenary session, the Chinese minister added that the PLA "has always been an invincible and powerful force in defending the unity of the motherland."

Dong also indicated that China is "ready to thwart any external military interference," a veiled reference to the United States, Taiwan's main arms supplier and which could defend the island in the event of a Chinese attack.

Beijing authorities consider Taiwan an "inalienable part" of Chinese territory and have not ruled out the use of force to achieve what they consider to be the "reunification" of the island and the mainland, one of the long-term goals outlined by Chinese President Xi Jinping after coming to power in 2012.

In this context, China has intensified its military pressure campaign against Taiwan in recent years, organizing military maneuvers near this territory with increasing frequency and increasing the number of incursions of its fighter jets beyond the mid-Strait.

This week, Beijing is holding the Xiangshan Forum, the main annual meeting of Chinese military diplomacy, with delegations from more than a hundred countries, including Russia, France, Vietnam, Singapore, Nigeria, and Brazil, as well as international organizations.

Under the motto “Maintaining international order and promoting peaceful development,” the program runs until this Friday.

The agenda addresses global security, relations between great powers, the Asia-Pacific region, political conflict resolution, arms control, new technologies, and the evolution of warfare, in a year marked by the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and the founding of the UN.

The forum comes two weeks after the September 3 parade in Beijing, where the People's Liberation Army (PLA, the Chinese military) displayed hypersonic weapons, unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) and intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Meanwhile, the Chinese military is experiencing internal turmoil: the Rocket Force recently suspended several experts and suppliers for contracting irregularities, while the Central Military Commission (the military's highest governing body) released guidelines in July to strengthen discipline and integrity following corruption scandals involving two former defense ministers.