Singapore

China on Sunday (June 2) issued a warning stating that its armed forces were ready to "forcefully" stop Taiwan's independence, further calling for greater exchanges with the United States. 

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The remarks by Chinese Defence Minister Dong Jun came after the very first substantive face-to-face talks with US defence chief in nearly 18 months at an annual security forum in Singapore.

"We have always been open to exchanges and cooperation, but this requires both sides to meet each other halfway," Dong told the Shangri-La Dialogue where he met with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Friday. 

"We believe that we need more exchanges precisely because there are differences between our two militaries."

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Dong and Austin held talks for over an hour at the luxury hotel that was hosting the forum.

Following the discussions, Austin said that telephonic conversations would resume between US and Chinese military commanders "in the coming months", while Beijing lauded the "stabilising" security relations between both countries.

This comes a week after China held military drills around self-ruled Taiwan and also warned to go into war with the island following the inauguration of President Lai Ching-te, who Beijing has described as a "dangerous separatist".

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"The Chinese People's Liberation Army has always been an indestructible and powerful force in defence of the unification of the motherland, and it will act resolutely and forcefully at all times to curb the independence of Taiwan and to ensure that it never succeeds in its attempts," Dong told the forum on Sunday. 

"Whoever dares to split Taiwan from China will be crushed to pieces and suffer his own destruction." 

Dong warned of "limits" to Beijing's restraint on the South China Sea, which China almost claims entirely and where it has almost exclusively been involved in confrontations with Philippine vessels.

"China has maintained sufficient restraint in the face of rights infringements and provocation, but there are limits to this," Dong said.

(With inputs from agencies)