China army to do ‘whatever it takes’ to retain Taiwan – defense minister

China’s defense minister said on Thursday that the military would do “whatever it takes” to stop any attempt to “split” Taiwan from the mainland. Beijing considers the self-ruled, island to be part of its territory awaiting reunification, even though the two sides have been governed separately since the end of a civil war on the mainland in 1949. “It is extremely dangerous to repeatedly challenge China’s limits on this issue,” Defense Minister General Wei Fenghe said at the Xiangshan Forum, a regional security dialogue hosted by Beijing. “If anyone tries to split Taiwan from China, the Chinese army will certainly do whatever it takes, and inevitably take resolute action,” AFP quoted the minister as saying. Tens of thousands of Taiwan independence campaigners took to the streets of Taipei on Saturday. On Monday, US warships conducted “freedom of navigation” exercises in the Taiwan Strait, a 180-km (110-mile) wide stretch of water separating the Chinese mainland and Taiwan – the second such maneuvers in three months.