Zhu Fenglian, spokesperson with the Taiwan Affairs Office of State Council. Photo: VCG

Zhu Fenglian, spokesperson with the Taiwan Affairs Office of State Council, declined to comment on a "hypothetical question" raised during Wednesday's press conference on whether the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) was planning to take Dongsha Island. She stressed that the mainland is capable of and determined to frustrate any provocation by separatist forces.

Zhu made the comments when a Taiwan-based China Times reporter connected recent PLA military drills in Fujian and Guangdong provinces with Hong Kong's rejection of a Taiwan military-chartered UNI Airways plane.

Zhu noted that she could pass on the question as it was a hypothetical one based on deduction of events. "But I would like to reiterate our basic stance - we are capable and determined to defeat any provocative acts by Taiwan separatist forces."

"We will resolutely safeguard the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and protect the overall interests of the Chinese nation and the fundamental interests of the compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Straits," she said. 

Global Times