UPDATE - Any attempt against Chinese reunification 'doomed to fail,' says top diplomat amid military drills around Taiwan

UPDATES WITH REPORTED REACTION FROM JAPAN, CHANGES 1st DECK

By Saadet Gokce and Berk Kutay Gokmen

ISTANBUL (AA) - Any attempt to "obstruct" Chinese reunification "is doomed to fail," said Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Tuesday, the second day of large-scale military drills around Taiwan.

"Continuous provocations by 'Taiwan independence' forces and the large-scale arms sales to Taiwan by the United States" must be "resolutely opposed" and countered, Wang told a symposium on the international situation and China's foreign relations this year, according to a statement from the ministry.

"Achieving the complete reunification of the motherland is a historical mission we must fulfill... any attempt to obstruct this historical trend is doomed to fail," he added.

Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) drills are being held after the US President Donald Trump's administration, early this month, announced eight new arms packages for Taiwan totaling well over $11 billion in a one-time record sale to Taipei.

Tensions between Beijing and Tokyo escalated when Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said on Nov. 7 that a Chinese attack on Taiwan could legally constitute a “survival-threatening situation,” potentially allowing Japan to exercise the right of collective self-defense.

"Japan, which launched the war of aggression against China, has failed to deeply reflect on its crimes, and its incumbent leaders even openly challenge China's territorial sovereignty, the historical conclusions of World War II, and the post-war international order," Wang said in rebuttal to Takaichi.

However, Tokyo-based Kyodo News on Tuesday reported that Japan had conveyed “concern” to China over military drills near Taiwan.

Tokyo hopes that “issues concerning the democratically governed island will be resolved peacefully through dialogue,” the report added.

There was no official confirmation about Tokyo conveying “concern” to Beijing till the story was published.

- 'Taiwan will not provoke confrontation'

For his part, Taiwanese leader William Lai Ching-te said that Beijing “has continued to escalate military tension in the region, which is not the behavior of a responsible world power," according to Focus Taiwan.

“Taiwan will not provoke a confrontation, nor seek conflict with China," he added.

During the symposium, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang also said that the China-US ties are “among the most important bilateral relations in the world today,” noting that the strategic choices of the two countries “shape the course of world history.”

Wang said that Beijing and Washington should find solutions to their “respective concerns” and “find the right way to get along with each other,” according to state-run Xinhua News.

The two sides “stand to gain from cooperation and lose from confrontation,” he added.